


A lie to me

by bbxii



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alpha Choi San, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - College/University, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, I Don't Even Know, I wrote this instead of studying, Light Angst, Multi, Omega Jung Wooyoung, Seonghwa and Wonwoo are besties and I love them, Slice of Life, Surprises, Wonwoo and Chungha are mates and I love them, multifandom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:00:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 51,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25464379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbxii/pseuds/bbxii
Summary: Park Seonghwa is a Beta who only wants to live his life however he wants, mostly in the shadows so no one can notice him. At the age of 23 he still struggles to find his own way, therefore he always seeks to learn more.Choi San is one of the greatest Alpha, if not the best of the best. He likes to be the center of attention, but any time soon his own center will change.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Choi San/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 62
Kudos: 136





	1. Chapter 1

’You’re a mere Beta, Park Seonghwa.’ – was the only thing he heard from the boys who were trying to bully him. Years ago it happened, right after he turned 19 years old, that his family decided to take him to a doctor. To let him have a check-up on a condition which was the most important to everyone in this damned world. Whether they belonged to the respectful and strong Alphas, to the colorful treasures called Omegas or, to the group no one cared about, the Betas. Seonghwa’s parents decided to go through this whole procedure to assure their own soul, more than their son. It was rather obvious that he wasn’t an Omega, his appearance and personality showed no sign of belonging to the ‘weaklings”, so he always thought about himself as an Alpha. Not the greatest, not the best but a pretty good one. It’s just his scent never showed itself. He never could lure over an Omega or fight an Alpha, because his mating scent – or any other – never appeared. His parents were praying to every existing God, that their son should be a Late Bloomer, despite them being as rare as a white crow. _“Your son is a Beta. There’s basically no sign of any origin in his DNA, therefore there’s nothing so-called special gene in him. He’s a Beta. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, he can still live a nice and satisfying life”_ – was what his doctor said. Seonghwa never wanted to be special or amusing, he just wanted to be treated equally despite his status, since gender didn’t matter anymore. Because after all, there’ll always be something what can be the base of inequality. This was the lesson he learned that day. It wasn’t actually that bad being a Beta. He didn’t need to worry about getting pregnant – since the chances of Betas getting pregnant is pretty low – or emitting scents in uncomfortable situations. But like how society is, they created groups. If you’re not a great Alpha or a fruiting Omega, then your worth is around a fake flower: you can be nice and sometimes useful but people will eventually forget about you and you will die without any greater achievements. Seonghwa didn’t care about the crowd’s opinion about him achieving something or not, but his parents cared. Something broke inside them, because they started to treat their son like a failure in the society, so he automatically got everything he asked for because the parents’ mentality was like this: if we couldn’t give you a status, we will give you everything else. It made the boy extremely upset.

‘At least I’m handsome.’ – It’s already been 4 years since this all happened to him, so Seonghwa learned how to handle such jerks like these three. Who hated him for his pure existence. For looking better than them but still being an oxygen stealer. – ‘Now if you don’t mind, I would like to go for my class, because unlike some uncultured worms, I am here on my on will to learn more about life. And obviously not here because I was forced to do so, so later on one day when I wake up, I will inherit my family’s whole fortune and will be able to show off my stupidity what I’ve gained throughout the years.’

‘You son of a…’ – one of the guys was about to throw a fit at the taller boy although he was stopped by a cold looking figure and a particularly strong Alpha aura.

‘House rule number 5, if any form of degradation is shown by any Alpha towards someone who’s in any aspects lower than the person, one most automatically report it to the principal. Therefore, I have the exact right to assume that the two of you degraded a perfectly unbothered Beta, who was minding his own business, calmly making his way to a lecture. Likewise I am generous enough to give you the right to remain silent or choose: you go away and stop with your bullshit for an eternity, or we’re all heading to the principal’s office and given the fact that I am a trustworthy man and my dear friend can be really persuasive, you will get expelled or kindly asked to take a short break from school.’ – the boy who stopped the other three was slightly taller than Seonghwa, their difference was barely 2 centimeters. He had dark brown curly hair with deep black eyes what he usually hid with his specs. The wannabe bullies seemed fast to catch on things after they saw the boy’s relentless smile and felt his total defensing Alpha scent. At first he might seem like a porcelain doll, given his skinny figure and pale skin, there was such a few people who could beat him.

‘Prosecutor Jeon, you’re way too obviously taking sides. Isn’t that against the law or some holy paper?’ – Seonghwa threw his hand over the other’s shoulders as they started to walk.

‘As long as I don’t have a degree, I am allowed to experience the feeling of threats. What’s more, in the future my job is to state the facts and look for the little gates one can take. So count this action as pure experimental learning.’ – Seonghwa sometimes was really shocked what a smart asshole he befriended on his very first day at the university.

‘You know Wonwoo, I truly hope that I won’t have to cross paths with you within your work.’

‘It’s indeed a mutual feeling. Now let’s hurry up, we wasted so much time on those scums.’ – they started to walk at a faster pace which eventually ended up with them racing to the classroom leaving many annoyed faces behind themselves, then arriving inside the class just before the teacher came inside. Their groupmates invited them with quieter laughs or an “I’m used to this, disappointed but not surprised” sighs.

‘Hah, I won.’ – Seonghwa stood proudly, still not going to his place.

‘Definitely not. I was way faster than you. Everyone can prove this.’

‘Especially when it comes to dying in games…’ – Seonghwa was rolling his eyes as he walked towards his seat but he felt a hand around his neck, jokingly choking him a little.

‘For your information, my lesson started.’ – Professor Hwang was quick to cut their bickering off with a big noise coming from his books. – ‘Also, Mr Jeon was faster.’ – this slight comment left the whole class laughing, so they started off their Higher-level Mathematics cheerfully.

‘Are we grabbing ice cream after this?’ – the boy on Seonghwa’s left looked at him with tearful eyes.

‘Yeah, but Jeongin please, don’t get depressed. We’re having a double class, so there’s still 2 hours or so left.’

‘Oh my God, I’m gonna kill myself. Hyung, if I ever decide to major in something related to Math then I am giving you the right to finish me.’ – the smaller boy was laying down his desk while suffering.

‘Is this legally correct?’ – the black-haired boy looked at his other friend who simply whispered a quick “cut the nonsense” and went back to concentrate on the difficult topic. – ‘You know Jeongin, it’s 100% your fault for picking a subject which is definitely not your level. Not only in Math but in academically speaking too. You know, you’re still two years younger than us.’

‘Yeah, but if I didn’t catch the opportunity given to me, then I would not be presented this again.’

‘What kind of opportunity are you talking about?’

‘Having a class with my beloved hyungs.’

‘Geez, you know how to flutter someone’s heart.’ – Seonghwa ruffled the younger’s hair who was smiling brightly then both of them focused once again on the professor.

After the three hour long lecture the boys went straight to the school’s convenience store where they bought popsicles. A vanilla flavored for Wonwoo, a strawberry flavored for Jeongin and a watermelon flavored for Seonghwa. Then they sat down in the canteen and were chatting about useless stuff. Like how the weather is changing every day, how other treat Jeongin in his own group or how the WonHwa pair defeated a really strong opponent in one of their online games. They sure were a strange group of friends. Others seemed to prefer staying in a group with their own kind or Alphas and Omegas mixed, but usually no one let Betas in. However, Wonwoo thought Seonghwa was one of the most interesting people he ever met, while Jeongin later on joined them when the other took him under his wings. As for the black-haired boy all of them knew there was something strange in his aura what was owned by none Alpha nor Omega, let alone Beta. Seonghwa was simply unique and it made the others eventually getting attracted to the boy. But it was not only the three of them, but four. There was another cheerful boy who was already doing his Master’s degree but still hanging out with them.

‘Here are my little children.’ – the darker skinned boy sat down between Wonwoo and Jeongin, looking as sad as ever. – ‘You bought ice cream and didn’t got me one?’

‘Hyung, we just finished Higher-level Mathematics. What subject you had? Coloring?’ – Wonwoo expressionless asked the eldest.

‘It’s called Introducing children to the world of forms and colors, it is hard in its own way. But now it looks like I’m not part of the gang.’

‘Or like you already finished yours.’ – Seonghwa added, what made Wonwoo gag a little and Hakyeon pout.

‘Hakyeon hyung, save me. Why am I taking that stupid class?’ – Jeongin clung in the mentioned boy’s arm.

‘For the exact reason you’re taking my Childcare lesson; you can spend more time with us.’ – he gently patted the youngest’s head.

‘Yeah, but at least there it’s not the subject that kills me, but the others.’ – Jeongin was definitely sulking.

‘Dear, we’re full of Omegas like me. We rarely have any Alphas. What they can do to you?’

‘Well, for example. Gang up on me, rain me with their scents so their Alphas will come to a conclusion that I had an affair with them, and believe me those monsters would totally kill me.’ – none of the boys could answer logically to his answer since it was the most ridiculous thing they’ve ever heard.

‘If you put as much effort into studying as into imagining stuff and coming up with unnecessary theories…’ – Wonwoo was the first one to speak.

‘That will never happen, I’m always with you, so I’m going to save you no matter what.’ – Hakyeon obviously tried to console the poor boy.

‘Was it your Mother who showed you another anti-bullying campaign or you found a new drama where the heroine is a pure Beta?’ – Seonghwa really prayed that it would be the former so he wouldn’t need to punch the boy.

‘But they put that poor girl into the trash can!’ – was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

‘You absolute idiot.’ – was probably what the whole cafeteria heard after Jeongin’s amazing explanation of his fear.


	2. Chapter 2

Seonghwa never felt that he would practically be good at one special things, but mostly he was on an average level in many other fields. If we take school for example, we could realize that he wasn’t a genius, he only worked hard. If he didn’t study for his tests then his scores were bad, if he studied day and night for it, then he rocked that test. He always believed that someone’s accomplishments were based on the effort what one put in it. Maybe that’s the reason why he was still stuck at the university, still not ready to make his decision. Their school offered a pretty nice opportunity: it was open for anyone who didn’t know what to do with their life. They could choose from much more classes than the other majors. If someone in the General Course wanted to check out Anatomy so he could decide whether he met the expectations of becoming a doctor or not. Or wanted to know what kind of people are taking the Philosophy course, he could check it out. Though there were some rules to it: the person couldn’t take second part of a course, because it would mean they are ready to move out of the General Course. For example, if someone participated in Economics 1, the next semester if the person wanted to go for Economics 2 the person also needed to state that he is ready to take one business related major. This is why all of Seonghwa’s friends, family and even himself a little bit was worried about him. He was already 23 years old, what usually meant one would be already over with university. But he still didn’t know where to go next. Since he never found a field where he was exceptionally great or extremely interested in, he was average. Just like a Beta. But his biggest concern wasn’t the tuition fee payed by his parents, since he worked hard for each penny those two invested in him. His biggest concern was his best friend, Wonwoo. The curly haired boy was rather ambitious because even before coming to the university he knew he wanted to go with law, Wonwoo just wanted to have some fun before becoming “grumpy and boring”, but still very cool obviously. So what is the exact reason of a great Alpha, Jeon Wonwoo, the future’s best prosecutor for still being stuck at the General Course? Around their first year the two boy promised each other that they would go on separate path when both of them know what they desired. The promise came from a rather hard night where Seonghwa had a total mental breakdown, questioning his existence – whether he deserved to live or not. Since that point Wonwoo decided to never let the other down and will always stick by his side.

‘You should already move out from here and ace everything what law has in sight for you.’ – Seonghwa really wanted his friend to specialize this semester, but the other boy was way too persistent.

‘I told you, I’m not leaving until you’re not ready.’

‘But what if I tell you I want you to go?’

‘Park Seonghwa, are you breaking up with me?’ – Wonwoo shouted, so basically everyone in the canteen could hear them. The curly boy was a terrible actor, but he had to put on a show and fake a faint.

‘I would never do that, asshole.’

‘You’re the asshole. But you know, if I leave, you will be all alone. And no one here likes a lone wolf Beta, even if he looks cool and stunning in the gold sunlight as a freshening breeze of air plays with his dark locks while his eyes are hiding loneliness, longing and a desire to belong somewhere.’ – Seonghwa loved how his friend could always babble about something ridiculous while keeping his straightest face. That time some French fries were included in his heart touching monologue too.

‘Too bad. I always wanted to be the misunderstood outcasted bad boy who has at least a hundred legends around him.’

‘Sorry mate, but I have to bring you back to reality. You’re a loser.’ – Wonwoo comforted his friend by putting his arm around the other’s shoulder and hugging him slightly.

‘How will I survive this? Wonwoo, tell me why?’

‘Ain’t nothing but a heartache.’

‘Tell me why?’

‘Ain’t nothing but a mistake.’

‘Tell me why?’

‘I never want to hear you say…’

‘I want it that way.’ – not only the two boys were shouting the last part of that sometimes hilarious but still legendary song, but Hakyeon too who just made his entrance the fanciest way he could with this ending. Like this, they were having a meal and enjoying it with some ice cream, what they were able to enjoy since the temperature was kind enough to let them have some past-summer vibes.

The boys were two months into their semester but little did they know at the beginning that Seonghwa would eventually find something he was really interested in. There was a subject called Equality and it was available for everyone, at any age, any year, any major and any group. The dark-haired boy at first thought it’s going to be a historical lesson where they learn about how equality changed throughout the years, how equality or inequality is making people suffer or giving them way too much privilege. He somehow managed to convince all of his friends to join this class. Wonwoo was easy to convince since in his future work he could make use of some world-famous examples in his cases. Hakyeon was a little bit harder case, since he already counted as an “adult” – though sometimes his action reflected zero percent of a real adult’s behavior – and he already had a work place, but eventually went with to flow so after each class they could go out and eat something delicious, or watch a movie or go to a museum. Jeongin basically was the easiest piece of cake: Seonghwa only had to mention that _“there’s a class where we all could be together”_ and the young boy enthusiastically nodded as a sign of yes. But when the first class started, everyone – not just the four of them – were more than surprised when a young lady around 28 walked into the class, given out some name tags so everyone could write their names there and eventually wrote on the blackboard: _How to accept each other_. That was the time everyone knew they were in trouble, big trouble. Wonwoo was ready to fight, since this is really going to be his job, in some ways. Hakyeon was face palming because he realized he was basically wasting his time. But on a second thought he knew it was going to be useful, because he might be able to discuss a topic in inequality among children and how to prevent it. Jeongin became scared since he hated talking in front of an audience, and getting name tags meant one thing – interacting with groups of new people. And he didn’t need them, he had enough friends. Meanwhile his friends were going through an emotional roller coaster, Seonghwa was simply curious. He found that teacher interesting. He was already thinking about how she would be able to dodge the sarcastic critics she would receive from all the cocky Alphas and bitchy Omegas. The girl with really long brown hair was way hyper than any of them.

‘Okay class, my name is Son Haeyoung. You can call me however you want to, Professor, Miss, Unnie, Noona, feel free to do so since in this class I want you all to be comfortable with me in your own ways.’ – she wasn’t using a mic though her voice could be heard perfectly. The class wasn’t big, it consisted about 30 students or so. – ‘I would like to ask you all to write your names on the tags. It can be a nickname, your full name, anything you wanted to be called by me and your mates.’

‘Miss Son, can we know your title?’ – a strong but somehow strange voice asked from somewhere the end of the classroom.

‘Wait, this voice is…’ – Hakyeon talked to himself while he turned around to see the boy with his own two eyes. As soon as he found the owner of the voice his eyes started to shoot the most colorful sparkles an eye could send out. For some odd reason he became the happiest person in the classroom.

‘Well, of course… Taekwoon. My title is officially Professor.’

‘Thank you for this information, but I wasn’t asking for this. What are you? Alpha? Beta? Omega? Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t especially care about the hierarchical systems at all, but we live in a society where our titles define us, and even if you’d like to avoid it by insisting to some childish philosophy which states “everyone can be anything” some of us may look down on you, won’t take you seriously, and eventually will go against your words. I’m not concerned in your well-being, but in my own grades what might be handled unfairly caused by the dislike from you towards our class.’

‘Thank you for your opinion Taekwoon, I think you’re going to be a great example for everyone on how to speak our thoughts and have an opinion. Since you were reasonable, here’s my title: Alpha. Some of you are already stronger than me, even among Omegas too, but I would like to ask you to respect me. Not as an Alpha, but as a teacher. It may seem old-fashioned, but I hope you can accept my request.’

‘Understood. Your position as a teacher won’t be questioned in front of you and no one will degrade you in front of you. I can promise this. Although I’m not taking responsibility for any forms of disrespect from the other students outside of class.’

‘And who are you to speak on behalf of the class?’ – a rainbow-haired girl asked from the first row with an annoyed tone in her voice.

‘I am Jung Taekwoon, former President of Student’s Council, 26 years old. Finished my military duties before the mandatory age due to personal reasons what I’m not ought to share with you. Therefore, if anyone would like to stick to a pyramid system, then I am second after Professor Son. Also, in the military I was in Alpha’s Marine Special class 1. I wish you would consider this when trying to insult a teacher or me.’ – their first class went by like this. After this dialogue Taekwoon was silent the whole class, while Haeyoung was giving out detailed information on the semester-long plan. They were required to write essays, work in groups with various people from the class during lessons and based on their activity everyone will receive a grade. As soon as the professor thanked everyone for their attention Hakyeon was the first one to stand up before everyone and run towards the back of the room. The boys were more than used to Hakyeon being more physically expressive, but never in their wildest dreams, would they imagine him running to the arms of Jung Taekwoon. Seonghwa was so surprise by his hyung’s act that he couldn’t focus on their conversation but only the contact between them. Taekwoon seemed to dislike the sudden affection he received, while Hakyeon already had some tears ganging up in the corner of his eyes. Apparently, they were the same age, but his friend still acted as if he was older. Though this was how he always acted. After a while it was not only the two of them hugging, but a third guy also joined. He had tattoos on his right arm and his neck. At first sight he was pretty intimidating but he was smiling fondly at the other two who he was hugging. Now everyone’s attention was really on them, because the tattooed boy belonged to one of the strongest groups full of ambitious Alphas and their Omegas and no one, literally no one has ever seen Hakyeon and Ravi interact, let alone have a relationship where they freely hug each other.

‘Leo, how could you disappear for two years without saying goodbye to us. We could’ve eaten BBQ before your enlistment. Or… just see you off at the gates. Or send you a video message. Or hug you one last time. You’re such a bad boy.’ – the dark-skinned boy was now hitting the pale’s arm.

‘Taekwoon. This is what’s on my nametag, I would like you to address me like that.’

‘Cut the bullshit, you also know he will never not call you Leo.’ – Ravi was nudging Taekwoon, or more known as Leo.

‘I know.’ – Seonghwa thought the boy wasn’t able to smile since throughout the class he was only showing a straight face, but just now he surprised everyone with a shy, short but quite warm smile. – ‘But I sent you a video letter.’

‘When you were already in the army!’ – Hakyeon hit him again. – ‘I basically raised you and this is what I deserve?’

‘I didn’t want to see you cry.’ – Leo was now caressing the older’s face.

‘I’m going to kill him, Ravi.’ – he was shaking his head in disbelief. – ‘Oh yeah, here are my friends I was talking about. Aren’t they cute?’ – if Seonghwa wanted to be honest he wanted to hear every indicative than cute. Their group was anything, but cute. Okay, Jeongin was indeed rather appealing when it came to cuteness, but Wonwoo and him were surely not cute. Not even a little bit.

‘It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jung Taekwoon. An old friend of Hakyeon.’ – the boy was introducing himself very officially.

‘I hope you believed nothing he told you, because I would like to oppose any words related to cute, adorable, sweet or us having a family-like relationship. It’s nice to meet you Taekwoon hyung, my name is Jeon Wonwoo. A future prosecutor, so you better stay on my side if any questionable thing occurs.’

‘I will keep that in mind, thanks.’ – as he acknowledged Wonwoo his eyes wondered to the youngest. – ‘And you are?’

‘Jeongin. Yang Jeongin, second year in General Course. Nice to me meet you Sunbaenim.’

‘The pleasure is here.’ – wow, he showed a smile again. Indeed, no one could possibly resist Jeongin’s charm as a little sunshine in their lives.

‘Park Seonghwa. I’m glad I could meet you, Hyung.’ – Seonghwa politely bowed in front of the older person.

‘You don’t want to add anything else?’ – Taekwoon raised an eyebrow, since the other two was quick to make their introduction longer than expected.

‘No, thank you. I am totally average.’

‘Yeah, an average parasite Beta.’ – a guy shorter than Seonghwa added. The boy had slightly longer black hair, a rather fine figure, one could say it was the perfect “swimmer body”. His eyes were sharp which went perfectly with his God like face. His whole presence was topped with a black blouse and white jeans with black boots. At first sight Seonghwa would find him more than attractive, but at the second sight he was nothing more, than a narcissistic and high-minded Alpha. They type he hated the most.

‘Let me correct myself, hyung. There’s something in me which is not average at all. It’s my height. I’m 183 centimeters. Thank you for reminding me of this, Mountain.’ – his words were as sharp as ever, containing as much sarcasm as possible with a spoonful of arrogance in it. He was still looking down the annoying Alpha, as he and his friend walked away. Soon he felt a big slap on his butt.

‘You smooth bastard.’ – Wonwoo added as they finished their special handshake.


	3. Chapter 3

Each week went by calmly after each other, and September quite quickly came to an end, so everyone could welcome the official spooky month, October. The shops, shopping malls, cafes and restaurants picked up their annual costumes and everything was slowly getting full of Jack-o’-lanterns, vampires, witches and all the possible figures one could find. Though it was still the beginning of October everyone was already planning what kind of costume they wanted to buy or create and what kind of party awaited them at the time. Some people hated how traditions what wasn’t usually theirs got implied into the youngsters’ culture and how they usually acted as if it was normal for everyone to accept the change. On the other hand, some people were happy about this, since they could express themselves a whole new way and was able to widen their knowledge about the world. Seonghwa always thought about himself as someone in the middle. He didn’t hate it, but wasn’t excited about it either. He found its history and legends fascinating, even found the children going for trick or treat adorable, but he had his doubts towards teenagers and those university students to who this tradition meant another way to party all night long and get totally drunk. He wasn’t against partying, he just hated handling the pure sight of a drunk person. He liked to party but with limits. And for him wearing sometimes questionable outfits was off limits. There was a time when he kind of enjoyed the Halloween parties, but that time’s long gone. Now all he wished for was a movie marathon with his friend or sisters, which included some lighter or enjoyable horror or comedy movies. Nothing more, nothing less.

As he was spacing out thinking about the deepest meanings of Halloween, their teacher came in the classroom. Her appearance had different effect on everyone – some would greet her politely; some would stay silent or some would flirt with her out of pure “joke”. The last row obviously belonged to the latest group, which annoyed Seonghwa. Not because he was jealous of their easy-going personalities, but more like they were disrespecting a teacher and sometimes each other. Those Alphas asked rather inappropriate questions who had their Omegas beside them. _“If you found yourself someone who can tolerate you, then don’t try to make everyone your Plan B”_ – was what Seonghwa thought every time someone flirted with Professor Son. The special class about equality wasn’t academically the most effective one, but his morals and thoughts changed a lot, so this class and teacher meant a lot for him. He had a feeling that he was on a way of finding himself. The lady brought such topics as incurable illnesses and its effect worldwide, the origins of today’s society, famous Alphas, Betas and Omegas and their actions what made the world slightly a better place. They even learned about topics concerning laws on equality, racism, genders and basically everything what could fit under the category “discriminations and how to prevent them”, which was highly favored by Wonwoo. To the boys, today’s class’ theme also seemed interesting: domestic violence. They were looking through cases what were open to public, how they used to overlook this topic for many years, but how a group of people stood against it and became a really sensitive but still important topic for everyone.

“Many psychologists claimed that their clients said they resent their parent who abused them, but would like to be able to forgive them. Some was abused that much that they believe what they went through was really a way of sowing affection and love, while others could go as far as thinking about killing either themselves or the parent. In my opinion one should never hate the person who give them their life, but there are times when resenting someone is an acceptable solution, although” – Professor Son wasn’t able to sum up her thought and ask for opinions because someone was already opposing her thoughts.

“Bullshit.” – Seonghwa’s friends rarely heard him swear at someone, especially at a teacher. The one who usually received them was either Wonwoo or the other person at the end of a computer when fighting in an online game. The three of them was looking at him with wide eyes, and the teacher also raised both of her eyebrows almost up until the ceiling. She was used to this kind of language from others but not from Park Seonghwa who seemed so far one of those students who finished everything on time and obeyed every rule what was given to him. Since she didn’t know how to react to his student’s sudden remark, she signed to him that he could go on. – “I can see where you would like to lead us and I am aware of the fact that you just want us to understand a new view different from ours, but since people are able to have feelings towards each other it is more than possible to hate your parents. I may be the old-fashioned or conservative, but if I would’ve been abused through out my childhood both emotionally and physically, I would’ve hated my family. Because those who want to run away from home is not because their home, the building itself hurts them, but the people there. They say it’s “okay” to not like, let’s say, your stepmother at first or for a long time, since you’re not related by blood, but what about your real mother? Or father? If I hate people who are narcissistic, alcoholic, like to show their power by hitting people or tend to abuse of power because my father is like that, then doesn’t that mean I hate my father too? For me, it should be the same. Because you can hate those kinds of people except that specific person who made you hate them. It’s just society automatically judges you if you say you hate one of your parents. But do they know the reason? Do they see behind the closed walls? No, they don’t, they just judge based on what they can, or want to see. But now I only focused on the typical case when a father usually beats his child to death. But I haven’t talked about a mother who emotionally wrecks her child to death. By saying stuff like “you didn’t deserve to be born, you’ll never be good enough, you’ll never be in the first place, why can’t you be as good as some one else, I wished for the brightest star on the sky and got you; a piece of garbage, why do you still steal the Oxygen from successful people”, a person can add as much fuel to the fire as hitting someone. Sometimes words are sharper weapons than a sword. Why do you think sword has word inside it? Also, not only the verbal communication can hurt the child, but the nonverbal too. Not getting attention or wrong kind of attention, not getting hugs, not getting the soft little touches, not getting the motherly love or always receiving a look which could kill or could make one not only uncomfortable but miserable too. These are the reason why many people, let it be young or old kill themselves. I also agree that the childish “my mom didn’t buy that toy, magazine, shirt, whatever so I hate her” kind of feelings are unacceptable and should be judged, but the ones full with emotion should not be judged or looked down, but should be taken seriously.” – the boy’s monologue was followed by a one big silence. Some were raging inside, because he was talking way too generally not mentioning how Alphas and Omegas can differ in this matter, or was utterly shocked by his words and started to pity him thinking he went through everything he stated because, he’s a Beta. _A disgrace to not only the society, but to his family too, what a pitiful life he’s living._ This would be the best description of the students’ thoughts. Seonghwa patiently waited for his teacher to respond, since he was aware that his thoughts had a lot of meaning and weight what should be digested calmly and rationally.

“Thank you Seonghwa for your opinion. From your previous writings I got the clue that you’re someone who has deep thoughts, but still not ready to throw them in front of everyone. As for your remarks, we’re not the same. I think hating, not forgiving and resenting someone is a clear sign of that person not being able to move on, therefore that person would need help from friends or a specialist. But this is my thinking. Although your point that if we hate certain type of people because of someone, so we “should” hate the source too is rather surprising and I’ve never thought about it. Thank you for pointing this out, I will surely do some research concerning this, because I never thought such a perception existed. Anyone, who would like to oppose or confirm Seonghwa’s thoughts?” – every one stayed silent except one person. One person raised his hand and said strongly “ _I oppose_ ”. It was the same guy who tried to insult the dark-haired boy on their first class. The Mountain.

“I think Mr. Park isn’t entirely right.” – Seonghwa wasn’t the angry type, but he became really angry. He clearly wrote on that stupid nametag “Seonghwa”, but that angry Alpha had to call him something what people call his father. – “He was talking about a general point of view, where, surprisingly enough, he referred to the family members as people and not as Alphas or Omegas. Oh, and sorry, my bad, Betas. Meaning that he was talking about human beings as total equal parties.”

“Because in this class we’re supposed to be equal, you moron.” – Seonghwa couldn’t hold himself back, he had to add to his stupid explanation, but the teacher was quick to shush him up.

“Now, in my opinion it is more than important to emphasize the roles. I think some children tend to not hit back because they think their parents are Gods, they should be thankful for giving them life, though they didn’t ask for it. But here’s where I think they are wrong. I’m not saying it’s okay for an Alpha father to hit his Alpha son or daughter, but in the hierarchy they stand on the same place. Therefore, not only the parent has the “right” to hit, but the child should also has this “right”. But obviously, violence should never be the answer to anything.” – the black-haired boy was sitting proudly as if he was the wisest in the whole classroom.

“Thank you, S- ” – the professor wanted to state her thought, but Seonghwa interrupted him.

“Mr. Choi, let me ask you something. Then what happens when an Alpha child is being abused by an Omega parent?”

“Then the Alpha should prove that he or she is the upper one.”

“So you not only say, that in this case violence _is_ the key to the problem, but also would encourage someone to go against someone obviously higher than them. In my theory I only said it’s okay and acceptable to hate your parents but not to hit back. Because I do think, that one would suffer much more if he or she hits or talks back, while you think proving the dominance, even with violent means is acceptable.”

“That’s not what I meant.” – the boy was furious. He glanced at the teacher who gave him an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry San, but I agree with Seonghwa. Violence shouldn’t be accepted even if it’s meant to maintain or assess dominance. Not in the streets and not in the family too.” – with this, the rest of the class went by rather slowly and boringly, since Professor Son was stating all the possible traits of someone being hurt, both physically and emotionally. When the class was over and Seonghwa was ready to go and hang out with his friends the teacher asked him to talk with him privately. He knew where this whole conversation was heading.

“I’m not being abused. I do question my parents’ choices at least a thousand times, but they never laid a finger on me. They also never said out loud anything hurtful to me. Although I’m sure they have some controversial thoughts what make me a little bit uneasy, but I’m already used to it, so you don’t have to worry about me.” – Seonghwa’s words reflected the truth and confidence, but Professor Son still captured a little sadness in his eyes, what probably was killing him softly and slowly.

“Alright, I won’t force anything on you. But if you feel you want to rage and don’t want to share it with your friends, being afraid of them judging you, my office is always open for some consultation.” – Haeyoung softly patted the boy’s shoulder, showed him a gentle smile and almost let him go, but that small sadness was bothering her. – “I know I said I won’t force you, but still… You were talking with such confidence, that it made me wonder, if…”

“I have a friend. I mean, had. I had a friend. He killed himself with the belt his father used beat him. He passed away when we were in high school.” – it was hurting him. He hated talking about Hyunmin, but he realized in order to fully let the boy go he had to learn to live without him and talk about him.

“I’m sorry, dear.”

“I’m not saying it’s okay, but at least now he doesn’t have to suffer. Then, have a nice day Professor, good bye.”

Without asking anything, all of them knew what their friend and the teacher talked about. They knew Seonghwa’s situation wasn’t the easiest one when it came to his family and surroundings, and this topic was a rather sensitive one for him. To make their feelings a little bit relieved, the boys decided to go out and have fun. This time Wonwoo couldn’t join them. The boy was extremely apologetic about it, especially now that an old scar was bleeding again inside Seonghwa’s heart, but he had to meet someone. Seonghwa had a feeling what kind of someone that person was and the happiness of his friend made him feel a little bit easier. After saying good bye to the curly boy, the other three went to a market near their school. As soon as they arrived there, Hakyeon made sure to treat his “children” with some high-quality food, what can make any one happier. And this is how they ended up at a smaller restaurant run by an elderly woman, eating some heavenly made Bibimguksu, which is basically noodles mixed with some delicious vegetables and beef alongside some mandu with pork and some gimbap. As they were digging in their fresh food, they were talking about anything what would pop up in their minds. Like how Jeongin had to go to the dentist and change his braces, but couldn’t decide whether to have a normal one or a transparent one. Or like about all the children Hakyeon has met so far during his voluntary work and normal work too. He indeed loved children almost more than anything and was willing to do anything to have one or protect them. As for Seonghwa, he never felt a special knot between him and children, but he was sure to have at least two dogs in the future. If there would be some additional one, he wouldn’t mind them. The more, the merrier. When they finished with their meal, the eldest headed home since he had to prepare for next day’s work at the nursery school. The boy’s life basically consisted of either studying for the university or preparing games, songs or DIYs for the children at his work place. So now only Jeongin and Seonghwa were left.

“Hey, Hwa hyung. Why don’t we have a nice long walk by the riverside?”

“Oh my God, that sounds just like a perfect date idea.” – Seonghwa jokingly hugged the younger by his shoulder and instead of going towards the river he decided to go down the market. – “I have a better date idea.”

“But we’re not on a date.” – Jeongin rolled his eyes, but his face was full of a heart-warming smile.

“So you’re also breaking up with me? Then with who am I going to play at the arcades, then watch a movie while eating nachos with extra amount of cheese and finally take some ridiculous pictures at the photobox what will later on make us the loser Beta couple who makes people confused whether we’re really good friends or something more?”

“How could I refuse the offer if you present it like this?” – he was indeed really cute. Seonghwa always thought of the youngest as his little brother who he never had, because he was so cute he couldn’t help but always shower him with love.

“Nope, you already rejected me. I need to find someone else.”

“Then let me help you find someone else, okay? And while searching we can finish everything you just listed.” – Jeongin linked his arms onto the other’s as they headed to the arcades to have the best night they ever had.


	4. Chapter 4

For a long time, Seonghwa had mixed feelings about family gatherings. He loved his parents and sisters but sometimes they were too distant for him. Between he and his oldest sister there was 6 years of difference. If it wouldn’t be enough, she was an Alpha too. Hyojung was the strict type. She always thought she had to be the best. It was a must. When she was around 18, she decided to run her own company, or at least be at a higher position in a well-known multinational company. The latter became the reality which caused her to always sacrifice. Hyojung choose herself a rather irritating Omega, at least that was what Seonghwa always thought of Minjae. He was a good for nothing rich asshole from the same company. Their story was a little bit romantic to begin with, since they fought together to be at the top which later became true, so now they were the Heads of different departments, so work never really came between them but was a motivational factor. But what really bothered the boy was how the older man always looked down on him. He always seen other in-laws trying so hard for the siblings to accept them, but to Seonghwa it seemed the other way round. He was to one to always make a fool of himself in front of the other. He not only made sure that he was better and stronger even though he was an Omega, but it always seemed that he was the son their parents always wanted. His other sister was 3 years older than him and was living right beside their apartment. Somin was a much more caring Omega, who was expecting her first child with her Alpha husband. They had their wedding two years ago, ever since then they were the gems of the family, someone everyone could be proud of. Seonghwa liked Somin’s husband, Joon a lot more. He was obviously an Alpha, but a much more sympathetic than that egocentric Omega. Ever since Somin had Joon, they became his second parents. If he failed at something, they encouraged him, or achieved a big success they were the first one to congratulate him and make sure that he felt important and as much of a part of the family as the others. Hyojung also loved Seonghwa with all of her heart, but she had her own problems to worry about at the company and its wars over power, so she basically didn’t have the time to care about her siblings as much as the others. She was loving, but a little bit cold. While Somin always made sure to shower everyone with as much love as possible. Though his middle sister became his mother, he loved both of them equally. Somin for her mother instincts and Hyojung for being the perfect reference and role model in aspects of someone being able to get what they want if they work for it really hard. Seeing his sisters, Seonghwa always felt the need to be protected by them and also to protect them. They could rely on each other, fight for each other and love each other when their parents weren’t able to.

Although there was one more thing what made the boy anxious. Sometimes he would play with the thought of him finding someone to love. Someone who could become his partner for the rest of his life. Most people now accepted the fact that homosexual pairs were a real and legal thing, since they were able to make a child – even lesbians too, although their process still needed a third male party or one of them had to be an exceptionally strong Alpha. But at least no one could deny the fact that if someone mated, they were made for each other. Obviously, there were cases when a pair thought they mated with each other but in the end, it turned out they were wrong and someone else was waiting for them. But to the boy it always seemed that his parents were on the opposing side. They easily accepted their daughters’ partners, but what if his partner turned out to be a boy? He was not only a disgrace to his family because of him being a Beta, but what if he would become gay? He was sure his family, or at least his parents would totally abandon him, they couldn’t bear another mistake in him. Seonghwa sometimes wondered about his sexual identity, but always came to a decision that he couldn’t decide what he was. He wasn’t cold for women but found lot of men hot. Despite him being ready to love or accept almost anyone as his partner he was sure there wouldn’t be anyone. No one would want a mere, disgraceful and loser Beta like him. So even if there seemed someone to be interested in him, he played cool because he knew he wouldn’t be enough for an Omega to satisfy him or her during a heat, or wouldn’t be able to get pregnant as his Alpha would want, since the pure thought of having another human inside him and then giving it a birth gave him all the chills. And that’s why he gave up on searching for a mate or yearning for love and decided that he would rather have as much dogs as possible when he would live alone, so he would feel less lonely.

The Park family was always known as charity people. They liked to do several volunteer works when they had the chance, since sometimes they didn’t have the money. So instead of financial help they liked to stick for physical help. Such as cooking for homeless people, walking with and taking care of several animals, talking with elderly people or playing with children (though out of this activity Seonghwa liked to be left out). This weekend was a rather special one for the boy and his family. Since Somin was still in the third month of her pregnancy, she decided to do as much adventurous stuff as she can until it would be too dangerous for the baby. So after a long, boring and sometimes suffering lunch in a family restaurant on a sunny Saturday, they decided to go to Buraksan Hiking Preserve Trail with dogs. Near the trail there was a dog rescue where there were about fifty or so dogs. The range was pretty wide: purebred to mixed, small to big, chill and playful. For that day Seonghwa wanted a little bit of extreme adventure, so he asked the caretaker to get him a playful dog. The man at first wasn’t sure about giving a Beta a hyper personality dog, but then he had to made sure to fulfill one of their regular’s demand. This is how Seonghwa’s parents ended up with an older Collie, Hyojung and Minjae with a beautiful dog who had some Golden Retriever blood in him, Somin and Joon with a Corgie and Seonghwa himself with one of the most beautiful Dalmatians he had ever seen.

“Hello darling.” – Seonghwa squatted to be able to pet the dog, named Haengbog. After the dog sniffed a little at his hands, she was totally all over the boy to lick his face and receive as much love from him as possible. The dog’s eyes showed happiness and love, just like how her name said. – “I really don’t understand how could someone abandon you.”

“She’s a new puppy here. We get her, like 4 month ago being all afraid of humans. Apparently, her previous owners abused her several times and probably starved her too. We don’t know the exact background, it’s just a guess because we found her under a bridge all bruised. Her case is probably the usual: a family thought it was a good idea to get a cute little puppy as their pet, but as she started to grow, make more trouble she became a headache and the people started to hate her. Disgusting.” – one of the workers told him this before heading out to hike.

Seonghwa prepared water not only for himself but for the dog too. All of the family members decided to go on separate ways, this was the best option for both the people’s and dogs’ stamina too. The parents hiked in a different tempo and Seonghwa and Haengbog too. The couple went on the advanced trail with lots of rocks, stairs and difficult places. They would sometimes stop on the way, so both the boy and the dog could eat some food. The hiker found a really nice place to eat some mandu and gimbap where they also allowed dogs to enter their area. There, the staff gave the dog some leftovers from the previous customers alongside some water too. The Dalmatian lady seemed really really pretty. _“How I wish I could adopt you, baby.”_ – was what Seonghwa only could think about. After they reached the peak, they stayed there for some time. It might have been hours or minutes, Seonghwa didn’t watch out for the time. They observed as older and younger couples went by. Some people were obviously a starter in hiking and mount climbing, but some were nearly as experienced as some professional who he had seen on the TV. There were people who clearly came here to make their Instagram feed way richer and gain all the possible followers, while some came here for solely thinking about life or enjoying the view because they were sitting down rocks or branches just like Seonghwa without getting their phones out for a picture. Or if they had it, they were listening to some music, podcast, radio or whatever were going on inside their earphones. The boy only realized the time when his parents called him where he was. That being said he and his dog started to run down the trail to get back to the rescue to get scolded for being late. Despite every angry look he got from his parents and some workers, he and Haengbog had the best day of their lives, her caretaker even thanked him for making her this happy and exhausted. She emphasized the fact, that they would be more than happy if Seonghwa came again. The boy was happy, that despite him sometimes being clumsy, not the best, even worthless he could bring happiness to someone’s life. Let it be an animal or a person, even if he made one more of them smile, it was worth it.

On the way back to their home Minjae ranted about how he and the mixed dog were the perfect couple, while Somin insisted on Seonghwa touching her belly because the baby inside him wanted to know how does a Dalmatian smelled. Seonghwa stated it was bullshit, but he still caressed her sister’s baby and smiled without any regrets. He really was excited about getting a nephew or a niece. Nothing mattered to him, whether it’s going to be a he or she, an Alpha, Beta or an Omega all he wanted was that child to receive all the love he could offer to that child and prevent any kind of mean comments from anyone.

“You know, Hwa. Joon and I were thinking.” – Somin started. – “We decided on getting a dog for the child. I remember how you always were the happiest little thing when you saw a dog and interacted with it, so I want my child to also experience this form of love. I’ve read many-many blogs and articles on keeping a dog next to a little baby and there were two big opinions. One stated a puppy is better, because that way the child can grow up with the dog, so there’ll be a 100% chance, it wouldn’t hurt but more likely to protect the baby. And also, it would become more playful, which may cause funny moments. On the other hand, some people recommended having a dog first and bringing it up as responsible as possible would be the best as in protecting the baby and caring about him or her.”

“And what do I have to do with it?” – Seonghwa was curious why Somin said this all to him. Yeah, he really was a regular visitor at their place and would probably spend all his time with the dog if they had one making sure that it would turn out to be the best boy or best girl, but it wasn’t his decision.

“Well, after today we were thinking about adopting Haengbog.” – Joon said smilingly while he put his hand on his wife’s stomach.

“What? Why? Are you sure about that? You know, a rescue dog is a lot of problem and that dog also might have mental issues. I got it that people say to rescue one and not buy one, but I think in your case getting a new puppy would be better because-“ – Somin didn’t let him finish his sentences by showing Seonghwa pictures of the Dalmatian and him.

“You’re one of the most trustful people we’ve ever met. After seeing you and Haengbog we were sure to get her. We already kind of decided on having a Dalmatian, since Joon loves 101 Dalmatians and we’ve red on the Internet that they’re kids’ dogs, likewise meeting Haengbog was what we call destiny. What do you think?”

“I hope you’re aware of the fact that if my darling gets into your house I will be there all the time.” – Seonghwa said as a warning but his sister only showed him a paper which clearly stated that as of today, the Dalmatian dog called Haengbog found her new and loving family, Han Joon and Han Somin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Seonghwa would do anything for dogs, so do I.


	5. Chapter 5

The black-haired boy was watching his lover in his sleep. He could fit in the category of Sleeping Beauty, but there was one problem with gaining this title: he was way too loud all the time, which obviously was not a trait of a Disney princess. Also, animals never talked to him, but this is a totally another aspect of someone fitting in or not. The pair basically lived together. They had their separate homes, but still spent most of the time at the Alpha’s flat. They didn’t have the courage to move in together, no one knew why. Their families supported this idea of “living together but still alone”, since they were still young enough to experience and have the time of their lives. Aside from anyone’s opinion they found it the best option: they could lean on each other, desire each other, love each other, give space to the other, sometimes hate each other but at the end of the day, still loving each other. Choi San was head over heels Jung Wooyoung and vice versa. At least that was what everyone around them believed. They weren’t simply in love, but they were mates, soulmates on top of that.

San has always been a particular human being. He was indeed a spoiled child, given the fact that he was an only child. He was aware of this fact, and that everyone was amused with him. He came from a rather strong Alpha centered family, where the only Omegas were his Grandmother, Mother. For a long-long time their family only gave birth to male Alphas, nothing else. Given this, his Mother married into the family in hopes of not ruining the perfect blood line they had over centuries. The members of his family loved to live a risky life, but not when it came to this whole blood topic. This is why San; his Father and Grandfather never had a sibling. They were afraid that “ _they used all the perfect genes in their veins for the first child, what if the second comes out useless_ ”, was the kind of explanation San always received when he asked for a younger sibling, who he never got. Besides this gold like blood and genes he had in his DNA, he was gifted with some little extra. There were legends all around the world about Alphas who had extraordinary abilities. None of them could control weather, bring bad luck to someone or kill without evidence, this was why their abilities were never acknowledged and seen by others. As for San, he had the present of perfect hearing. After he learned he had such a special skill he did everything to make it the best. At the beginning, when he was a baby it was terrible, since even the smallest noise woke him up, that was why they thought he was a bad and queasy baby. But when he started to talk and told everything to his parents, they realized their naughty baby was a genius. After this they took him to the doctor so he would confirm his Alpha being. They were sure that he was going to be one, after being aware of this little extra. Even the doctor was all shocked when his numbers showed he was equal to a weaker adult Alpha. Meaning, he was going to turn out as a perfect member not only of the family, but society too.

By the time he went to high school he mastered how to hear. He could control his hearing; it was like a switch. When he wanted his superpower, he would turn it on, when he wanted to be normal, he simply turned it off. This was how he got some “extra help” during tests. He hated subjects such as Literature or History, so he never learned for that but relied on others who studied. By the pens’ squeaking he knew what to write down, what was the answer to all the questions. As told before, no one ever sensed any change on him given the fact that this part of him was invisible, he was never caught cheating. Firstly, everyone respected him at the school because of his family and title, but as time went on, by the end of his first year everyone respected him because he was smart, talented and excellent in everything. Though he attended an All-Alpha high school half of the students had a pretty hard crush on him. When he was sixteen the school next to them got totally renovated and the city made it an All-Omega high school. San thought it was the worst idea, because it would just take all the attention away from him, and his school was full of Alphas, who wanted to prove their dominance in every possible aspect: studies, society and sexual ways. The two schools were basically a ticking bomb what was ready to explode because of all the hormones inside of them. Although it was still better because a pretty strong and thick wall was between them and they didn’t have to stick together. One day, after a rather hard History test San rushed out of the school and forgot to turn off his hearing.

“Here comes the Pure Blood. Look at him. He totally thinks he’s Draco Malfoy or something. Pathetic.” – a boy around his height said these words to his group of friends who laughed at his words. San wasn’t upset with the comparison, because he was called these a lot, they probably borrowed it from his own school. As a fact, he never understood why people thought it was an insult towards him. After reading the series he realized, it wasn’t a bad thing to have a clear and well visible blood line. It was something one could be proud of, but still had the weight what one should carry with responsibility. And since he had kind of wide shoulders, he knew he was the one who could perfectly carry out his responsibilities as a Pure Blood in their dimension. So all in all, someone calling him Malfoy or filthy Slytherin was a praise, indeed. But someone calling him _Pathetic_ was unacceptable. No one could call him that, since he fought for his current position. Sometimes not in the most ethical way, but he still fought and won. This was why he headed towards them with a not so pleasant expression on his face. The poor Omegas became scared.

“May I ask what’s your problem with me, gentlemen?” – as soon as he arrived everyone shut their mouth. Expect one.

“Oh, definitely nothing, Sir. We were just wondering about who would fit your Majesty’s personality from the book Harry Potter. I don’t know if you’ve read such a lowly book…” – the boy’s loud voice irritated his sensitive hearing, so he quickly turned it off then nod his head in agreement that he was familiar with the story. – “Perfect. My friends think you’re totally Draco Malfoy, but in my eyes you’re more like Filch. Yes, he’s totally you.”

“I hope you were talking about yours too. At first, I thought you was as annoying as a Potter, but he’s too good for you. Though I understand your friends’ opinion on me being a Malfoy. But you know what Malfoys’ have? House elf.” – with this San slightly ripped the other’s uniform, cut his skin right at the left part of his chest, collected a little bit of the loud’s blood and mixed it with his own. It was a strange feeling, like an invisible line was created between them, he could feel the other’s heartbeat, sense his feelings and presence even though he was getting further away. San forced the beginning of the mating ritual on the other boy. He did the most reckless thing a sixteen-year-old could done, but somehow, he felt it was the thing he had to do. If they were looking down on him, then he should prove them that instead of doing that, they should fear him.

He was already at home doing nothing, while his parents were talking about some important business what was crucial enough for them to gain every power above it. They were already in the middle of the documents when the maids were shouting for some unknown reason. The reason soon run into their living room, throwing his bag and everything inside of it at San. The black-haired boy got up from his seat in order to show he was ready to talk things over, but instead of words a big slap landed on his face. His parents also got up in a blink of an eye and already called the security.

“You fucking bastard, you’re going to pay for this!” – the boy was raging, not only inside but outside too.

“Excuse me, but could I possibly know the reason why you barged into my house and abused my son?” – San’s father tried to remain calm, so he could use his real power when the boy would give him some obviously ridiculous answer.

“Don’t worry Father. Cancel the securities’ moves too. My dear Omega is probably here to get to know me better.” – his Mother dropped every paper she had in her hands and gasped at the pure thought of her precious son already being mated to someone. It couldn’t happen. He was still too young to lose everything. Both his son and this unknown Omega too.

“Your what?” – now his Father was mad at San. – “What gave you the right to choose yourself a partner at the age of sixteen?”

“Without my permission.” – added the furious brown.

“Without his permission?” – both of his parents were utterly defeated by the fact that their son turned out to be someone like this. Someone, who had the power but didn’t respect others. Even if the disrespect and hatred were inside of him, he shouldn’t have let it show on the outside. They were disappointed in him.

“Oh my God, calm down. It was only the first step. Nothing more. If he waits, let’s see, around four-five years or so my mark could totally disappear. Obviously, if he wants it too. If he wants me out of his life.”

No one in the family knew when San became such a spoiled brat, but there was one more thing no living person in the whole world could understand. How did the cute little Omega, called Jung Wooyoung really end up next to San? It has already been six years since they started to date, but the mark is still there, clearly just like the day he received it. At the beginning Wooyoung hated San, for being a rude asshole. There shouldn’t be any misunderstandings, he was still an asshole, but the smaller boy gained the ability to see inside him, to notice what’s behind the mask, sarcasm and hurtful comments what San would usually blabber. In the beginning they would fight. A lot. Not only verbally, but physically too. When Wooyoung’s parents first saw their boy’s bruises they were ready to kill San, no matter what a god-like family he came from. But when the first accuse happened, San didn’t hesitate to show all the scratches, scars and bruises the other gave him. _It wasn’t only me, but him too._ – was what he told the families. After many incidents the two family became worried. More like, they were afraid to death of losing their son for a stupid and reckless move what resulted in an obviously abusive relationship. So they decided to separate the partners. The Jung family moved far-far away from the Choi family, but one day when the maids found San’s bed and drawers totally empty, they knew where the boy went. Although, he wasn’t at the Jung family’s house. Neither Wooyoung. It was the Omega’s first heat. First heat with an Alpha. During the session, when the hurtful and unwanted comments turned into whispers of love, when their bodies totally connected, when their minds were at a state of peace after seeing what was inside the other’s, when they looked into each other’s eyes and when they finally reached the place only they could send the other, both Choi San and Jung Wooyoung knew it wasn’t worth the fight. They couldn’t help it. They were mates. They were partners. They were in love.

“What were you thinking about, Pea-brain?” – the now blonde boy was asking with a little bit raspy voice, since he just woke up from his fine sleep.

“Well, actually, about someone who’s pretty cool. Handsome. Funny, interesting, eye-catching, nice, kind-hearted, a little bit loud and consequently annoying too. And then you also popped into my mind.” – San said, his eyes full of love as he was looking at the man underneath him.

“It’s Joe again, right? I knew it. I should’ve left you when I first heard about him.”

“Please, don’t. Joe will understand it. Maybe, to say good bye to him, we could invite him to have a little extra fun.” – San raised his eyebrows playfully, to tease Wooyoung a little.

“I’m in. I mean, I’m already bored with you. You know, there are places where you’re more of a hill than a full mountain.” – San still didn’t understand how he was always surprised when his partner teased him back. Like their relationship was obviously the _“when the ice cream licks back”_ kind of relationship, but he was always shocked how naughty the blonde could be.

“Fuck you.” – was the only thing he could say in his shocked state.

“I dare you to do so.”

“Challenge accepted.” – with this said San quickly pinched Wooyoung against the mattress and kissed him with such power that totally woke both of them up, not expecting this kind of excitement so early in the morning. As they were kissing, the smaller boy continuously moved his hips against San’s what made both of them sigh oh so many times. The Alpha decided to take on a slower pace this time, so he was rubbing their lower parts together, almost painfully slowly. Make out sessions with his Omega were the best. Though neither of them had the chance to compare, but it was still perfect. But sometimes, only once in a blue moon San would wonder about his feelings. How they wanted each other because they were teenagers, but then they turned out to be an almost adult-like couple. How in the beginning everyone were against them, but then how every single person who saw them thought they were the perfect example for a well-balanced Alpha and Omega. How Wooyoung bothered him, but eventually fell for him. How everyone from their families were talking about them as the puzzle pieces who found each other ahead of their times and grew together. Just like a perfect puzzle. But sometimes, really, just sometimes San would think about the times when he tried to solve puzzles. He would often think he found the missing piece, but was wrong. The two didn’t fit each other. That’s why he always hated puzzles.


	6. Chapter 6

Their group of friends could be considered quite big. There was all in all six people from various backgrounds and families. Some of them were Alphas and some of them were Omegas. None of them knew how they ended up like this, together, it just happened. When one befriended the other, that person somehow automatically became part of the group. As time passed, some people fell out of the group, but the center, this six people stayed and stuck together. There was one particular day, when they had to say their farewells to one of them. He didn’t die, he just decided to participate in his mandatory military service. His return was the reason why all of them were in a restaurant, a quite big part especially reserved for them, since they were waiting for their friend’s other friends. San sometimes were wondering how Taekwoon was able to endure all the annoying he got from Wooyoung. San was already used to his Omega’s behavior, but other Alphas took his moves as a hint of flirt. Although, he had zero intention like that, Wooyoung just wanted to spread love. He wanted to be affectionate towards his friends publicly, not caring about what the norms were. The group was already a few drinks and meals in the game when a group of four people entered their area. Everything stopped in San. There was the guy. That filthy Beta. He didn’t know why he hated that guy so much, since he usually would ignore Betas’ existence, but this one was different. He wasn’t particularly flashy nor wanted all the attention, but despite all of his inner fights his eyes, ears, brain and attention were all on the boy. His slender body, his dark hair – which he couldn’t decide was really dark brown or really light black – his sharp eyes, what were sometimes ready to kill anyone who dared to talk to him and other times showed those signs of love San has never seen in his life. He had a fair skin, what sometimes seemed as white as a milk but when he watched closer, he could notice that the boy was no Snow White, since he had some nice tan all over his body. His clothes always fitted him well, he seemed like a guy from a well-off family, since at first sight his clothes were from above average shops, but not designer, meaning he wasn’t as rich as San. But still, he picked his clothes pretty well. It wasn’t ostentatious, but it definitely showed that he cared about his looks. But obviously, he didn’t care about the guy. He hated the way how a mere Beta sometimes made him feel insecure. This time was also kind of similar. Seonghwa wore nothing special, his outfit consisted of a black tee, jeans and boots but if you watched really closely, you could notice he picked this outfit with care and not the “let me grab something” way. His focus was broken when a big box was placed in front of him. It was targeted to Taekwoon, but given the box’s size it was in front of almost everyone.

“Welcome back to life, my precious friend.” – in that weird group there was one who seemed pretty sociable, Hakyeon. He was Taekwoon’s friend but he wanted him and his friends to get along so he invited his friend to the outing too. Now, Wooyoung wasn’t the one who was hugging the tall boy with all his might, but Hakyeon. He seemed like he could squeeze the life out of his friend with his hug.

“Hakyeon, you went overboard. Again.” – Wonshik was laughing at the fact how big and probably useless the box’s content was.

“No way. I bought all the necessary items what a man, returned from the army, would need. For example, my Mom’s kimchi the way Leo loves, some new clothes what fits his new well-built body, some medicine in case he gets sick, some sweets in case he craves some happiness in life, some really nice books he possibly missed out while being isolated from the society and I could go on longer, but what’s the meaning, since that way the surprise wouldn’t be a surprise.” – Hakyeon explained his gift to everyone while he and his friend sat down at the empty seats. San and Seonghwa were as far away from each other as possible, but the boy still irritated him. 

“Wonderful. But doesn’t your friends want to mix with us?” – Wonshik asked as he eyed the boys.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. My friends are, sadly, socially incapable of anything, so I am asking for your understanding. Here we have Wonwoo. He’s a really nice guy who’s about to become an attorney. Bad point is he’s sometimes rude, doesn’t know how to control his mouth, has a sense of defense against unfairness but he usually goes over a line he shouldn’t cross. But if you miss out of your talk politics, then you can be good friends. Here’s Jeongin. He is officially my baby, so no one can hurt him. He’s still just a puppy, afraid of everyone maybe until the first five encounters, but if you can make him trust you within the sixth one, believe me you won’t be able to control him. He talks a lot. Like, a LOT. Wouldn’t recommend him if you don’t have patience. And lastly, my dearest Seonghwa. He has the emotional range of an ant, but at least he loves us. He’s definitely a cold prince, his behavior sometimes is just overwhelming and one just wants to punch him in the face but then you look at his face and your heart melts like an ice cream during summer. He has many, many, really many bad points but much more good points. All in all, he’s a nice guy, just like every single one of my friends. So please, take good care of them.” – by the end of Hakyeon’s speech his friend either wanted to murder him or felt ashamed down until their bones. While the others were just in a state of shock, not ready to consume all the information what were just thrown at them.

“How, let me repeat myself, how can a human being talk as much as you do? How?” – Wonshik was the one to ask the question what was generated in everyone’s minds.

“Now, Leo, would you mind introduce your friends to us?”

“I’m not doing it. I am here to eat. If they want to socialize with you, then they will take the first step, if not then let them be.” – Taekwoon was fast to state his opinions. He also wasn’t a socializing one.

“Oh my gosh, Leo, how can you be so…” – and this was the beginning of nagging what continued during the whole night with some pauses between convos. One time Wonshik thought he was really funny when he put IU’s Nagging on repeat, but he was forced to shut it down after the fifth repeat.

Meanwhile everyone seemed to get along unexpectedly well. For the first half of the night the two groups decided to ignore each other. The only connection between them was the three old friends who chatted about everything what happened to them in those two years. Wonwoo, Seonghwa and Jeongin talked about some guy who they beat in an online game. They were proud of their work despite it happening a week ago or so. In Taekwoon’s group there was a boy called Lee Chan, but everyone referred to him as Dino who seemed rather interested in their conversation. So after a while Wonwoo made the big question, whether he liked the game or not. This led to Dino joining the conversation and Jeongin shutting himself. But after twenty minutes when he realized Dino was a nice, smiling guy who didn’t seem like a judging one, the shy boy totally opened up and the two of them talked, criticized and ranked all the possible games they’ve played with so far. If there was something Jeongin didn’t know Dino searched for his phone, showed and explained all the details what one must know. Jeongin couldn’t really mention a game like that, instead he was sharing his experiences and troubles with the older who helped him in any possible way. Although Wonwoo and Seonghwa were proud of their win, but at that moment they were extremely proud of their friend for being able to open up to someone this fast and maybe even develop a decent relationship with him. As the best friends were left alone a guy with an interesting accent approached them. It later on turned out that he was from China and was still adapting himself to the language. He seemed like a really fashionable guy who was up to date to the latest trends and all. Just like the pair he seemed cold at first, given his presence, but he was a totally normal boy who wanted some advice on living in Korea and learning the language from outsiders. As the conversation got deeper, he and Wonwoo found a special bonding point what was soulmates. In this situation Seonghwa wasn’t the uncomfortable one, but Wonwoo. Seonghwa got a clue that his friend was seeing someone, but didn’t know how to mention it, since he thought it would make Seonghwa feel lonely and left out. He knew that his friend was being considerate and he showed all the signs which shouted “tell me everything whenever you feel you’re ready”. So, he slowly got up from his seat leaving his friend and Minghao alone, and sat next to Hakyeon who was fast to tap his shoulder since he was aware of the fact that Seonghwa wasn’t really fond of intimate touches in everyday situations, only in special occasions. He silently sat there and ate his food when someone poked him. When he looked at the person approaching him, he found a boy with slightly tanned skin, dark grey hair and dark brown eyes which were sparkling with and unknown interest.

“You’re Seonghwa, right? Whose emotional level is the same as a trash can’s?”

“Hyung said an ant, but thank you for mentioning it. Also, it’s not true because I’m not a wreck but I don’t exactly like to express my emotions as much as he does. That doesn’t make anyone heartless.”

“Indeed. A normal person would’ve already burst out of all the feelings he has inside. But tell me, how did a cold prince like you befriended the Sun himself?”

“Well, he probably melted me a little.” – Seonghwa looked at Hakyeon with a warm smile. His hyung really did mean a lot to him. He was someone who could always warm his heart a little bit, who would bring light to his darker days. He might have been a little bit too much at times, but this was what made him a perfect friend. He could drive Seonghwa’s thoughts away from the unpleasant ones. But when Wonshik saw his smile, something clicked within him. As if Seonghwa pushed a button inside him what made Wonshik want him. His true beauty made the older boy pump his Alpha hormones towards the younger, but he seemed way too indifferent. Wonshik tried all the possible way to make him a wreck, to make him beg for his touch, to agree to leave everyone here and go to a hotel.

“Wonshik hyung, what are you doing?” – San snapped him out of his concentration. When he looked at his friend, he saw how confused he was.

“Nothing. Why?”

“Why are you trying to seduce a Beta?”

“Look San. I know how picky you are, and obviously a perfect couple with Wooyoung, but you know nothing about Betas. They can be really giving and desperate. They could die for someone’s touch, for some little attention and when you give it to them, they offer you the whole world. You just can’t imagine how much submissive Betas I’ve met. You can’t connect with them the same way you do with Omegas, but they can be perfect for a one-night stand. Nothing more, nothing less. This gives them meaning in their life. That someone wants them, although they’re some biological trash. Plus, have you ever looked at him? I know you have Young and the two of you going to be nominated for the century’s couple award, but look at him, and I dare you to tell me you wouldn’t bang him until he doesn’t know his own name.” – Wonshik has always been one enthusiastic man when it came to having sex. He had a philosophy where you could be with anyone until you find your soulmate. San wasn’t sure about this idle lifestyle, but he was sure if he didn’t have Wooyoung, he still would live a decent life, without playing around with any possible person. But this time San played with the thought not having his partner. To be able to look at someone without feeling guilty. Wooyoung wasn’t jealous nor wanted San to only look at him, but the boy felt it was the right thing to do: to only look at Wooyoung. But this time he let himself look at Seonghwa strictly from Wonshik’s point of view. Seonghwa had long and slim fingers which delicately but firmly hold the glass. When he placed it to his mouth, the veins on his hands had a particularly strong contour compared to how silky his skin looked. His mouth got wet after drinking is coke. Those lips what were slightly plump, had the color of a peach looked extremely nice wet. And dry too. He let his eyes wander some more around his face, analyzing every single detail, and he had to realize that Seonghwa’s eyes were cute. The kind of cute he wanted to watch all day long. He wondered if those eyes could turn into a beast’s eyes when the boy’s angry. Then he slowly looked at his neck, the first thought being “I want to kiss that neck”, but he quickly made this thought disappear and turned to Wonshik who, just like him, was analyzing the Beta from the bottom to the top. These few minutes were solely to understand his hyung’s feelings more. Why he wanted the boy. Not for his own pleasure and definitely against his own will.

“Nah, I wouldn’t bang him even if you payed me.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !Warning!: there's a, how to say it, really REALLY crackship in this chapter, and it's weird for me too, but I had to. I'm sorry^^"

Wonshik was eager to meet him again. If someone knew the excitement inside him, that person would think he was in love with Seonghwa. But that clearly wasn’t the matter. The Beta was playing hard to get, at least that was how it seemed like to the older boy. He was always indifferent, never looking at his direction, greeting him the coldest way possible, barely talking to him when their group crossed paths. He was indeed a cold prince towards him and Wonshik wanted this coldness to go away more than anything. He didn’t wish for much just one night. He wanted to have the boy for one night, to be able to name him as one of his trophies. There were several things what were odd in the dark-haired male. Wonshik tried many times to seduce him with his Alpha characteristics but all of his attempts failed miserably. Omegas get totally swayed off their feet, but even most Betas were usually laying in front of him every time he snapped with his fingers, yet Seonghwa was just staring at him with those cold beautiful eyes. Probably this was the feeling what made Wonshik want Seonghwa more: the indifference and the fact he couldn’t get someone so easily. By this time, the boy would’ve already asked for an advice from Hakyeon, but knowing the fact how precious the Beta was to the Omega he wouldn’t dare to ask. The first and most important reason was to not get killed by the eldest boy and secondly, he knew he would get zero information on how to make Seonghwa his. So each time they met, he tried his best to capture the other’s attention, to amaze him, to be able to finally make him fall into his web. He learned not to touch the boy without permission, since there was an incident where he was playing with that dark hair of his and he almost loose his hand. From that moment on, he kind of knew how to handle the stubborn boy.

The weekend was the same. The groups met at a restaurant to grab some food and to let the steam out before a new week would start at the devil cycle of the university. There was one thing that made a big difference though; Wonshik get to sit next to his dream boy. Or at least he thought Seonghwa was his dream boy. Throughout the dinner, the drinks, the meals and the small talks the boy was either looking at him with the eyes of a predator who’s ready to catch his prey or with the eyes of a dreamy teenager boy who just fall for his very first love. There was no in between his looks, he wanted all or nothing. And he wanted to do everything to get all. San, once again couldn’t ignore his best friend’s feelings towards the other guy. He more or less understood that for Wonshik, Seonghwa was the typical unobtainable partner who was totally not a one-night-stand type of a boy. More like a get-to-know-and-fall-in-love kind. San tried his best to imagine himself in the place of Wonshik anytime he was head over heels the taller boy. Probably this was the reason why the black-haired boy started to notice all the little things what made Seonghwa, Seonghwa. How he would sometimes stick his tongue out when he wasn’t paying attention towards his own body, how he would never text anyone back even though he received tons of messages, how he would rather talk over the phone with his family rather than messaging them, how most of the times he had a soft and quiet laugh but he could let himself out when he was with his closest friends, like Wonwoo or Jeongin and most importantly: he was way too beautiful to be a Beta. San never questioned anyone’s identity, but this time he wasn’t sure. There were times during the past few weeks when he tried to smell the other boy or even tempt him with his scent, but nothing worked. He couldn’t smell him nor have any effect on the boy. It bugged him a lot, but didn’t know what to do with this information. He understood why Wonshik wanted him so badly, but he didn’t understand his own feelings. The best way San could define his thoughts was uncertain and curious. But nothing more.

‘ _Want to go on a date?_ ’ – popped up on Seonghwa’s phone. The sender’s name was Kim Wonshik Hyung. Seonghwa rolled his eyes as he ignored the message but soon he was bombarded with other texts like _“it’s bad to ignore such a precious hyung like me”_ or _“I thought you were a respectful and intelligent boy”_. This made Seonghwa do the thing he would never do in a normal and cultured situation: during a meal he texted back. He always though it was the biggest sign of rudeness to be on the phone when he was within a group but he couldn’t help himself when someone questioned his intelligence.

 _‘This is why I like dogs. They don’t talk back, don’t bother me when I don’t want to and most importantly don’t question my intellectual knowledge_.’ – he was fast to write back so no one could notice.

_‘You texted back, good boy.’_

_‘… Cut the bullshit out, what do you want?’_

_‘Why are you so cold towards me?’_ – Seonghwa almost smiled when a rather sad emoji was sent alongside the message with a gif of Puss in Boots’ worldwide famous scene.

_‘I am deeply apologetic for the inconvenience, but I would rather talk to you on the phone or in person, since this form of communication is making me crazy, given the fact that I cannot read people’s real emotions through the tasteless emojis and gifs they send me. I am waiting for your fast reply, Mr Kim Wonshik. Yours faithfully, Park Seonghwa.’_

_‘Mr Kim Wonshik, hm I like it, Mr Park.’_ – Wonshik had the time to reply only this back since this made Seonghwa kind of furious.

“Hyung, will you come with me?” – he asked in a normal voice what no one noticed, but only one person.

“Of course, Mr Park.” – said the other boy who had a winner’s smile on his face. No one noticed their disappearance, but only one person. Choi San, who, was the witness of this whole play, led by his own friend. Deep inside San was jealous and curious about their conversation.

The two boys went inside the bathroom. Seonghwa wanted to stay there but the other one was quick to pull him into one of the stools and squeeze him into the wall. They were staring into each other’s eyes when Wonshik decided to go for a kiss. Soon, he was rewarded with a big slap which was echoing through the whole bathroom.

“Did you just slap me?” – the older boy asked with an annoyed tone of voice.

“Obviously. Want me to do it again?” – Seonghwa’s hands weren’t the only harsh things but his words too.

“I prefer to be on the other side of spanking.”

“This wasn’t spanking. It was a slap. There’s difference between the two.”

“I think we didn’t come here to talk about theorical stuff, did we? So we should move on to the topic.” – Wonshik pulled Seonghwa closer by his waist. Seonghwa felt a mixture of excitement and annoyance.

“So… now you expect me to get on my knees and satisfy you until the restaurant’s closed?” – Seonghwa raised his eyebrows as he eyed with his hyung’s lower body.

“That would be perfect, thank you.” – the dark grey-haired boy started to unzip his pants but Seonghwa’s hand stopped him from doing so. In Wonshik’s stead he unzipped the jeans then lean dangerously close to the boy’s ears.

“I’m doing it because your scent disgust me and since today’s food is amazing, I want to eat properly. You know big boy, without wanting to puke everything out.” – with this being said Seonghwa really went down his knees and gave some thoughts on what to do with the boy. Whether to be extremely teasing for all the bothering he received from the older, or extremely fast so he could go on and continue his meal. Without a second though Seonghwa pulled Wonshik’s boxer down and immediately started to work on it with his mouth. He wasn’t hesitating at all, since all he wanted was to get over with it. It wasn’t necessarily against his own will but he also didn’t want it 100%. But despite everything Seonghwa had to admit that his partner’s penis tasted nice. Really nice. He could get used to it. But since he didn’t want a second time, he thought he should give his all. So he used everything he had: tongue, mouth, spit, fingers and sometimes his teeth too. He would nod a lot, lick all the precum from the top and even go for that deep throating. All of the sensations, the gentle yet rough touches made Wonshik loose his mind. He didn’t know where he was, who he was just the fact that someone who’s basically a god was giving him the best blowjob he ever had. Wonshik bent over that particular edge when Seonghwa was working not only on his dick but on his balls too. He preferred his partners being quiet, but all the noises that Seonghwa made when he was struggling with a harder swallow made him really-really weak. At some point, the older grabbed the younger’s head, keeping it in place and thrusted into him as fast and hard as possible. Wonshik liked the little teasing he was presented with but still, it was the best for him when he could take the lead. After a few minutes and pretty hard thrusts he came right into the boy’s mouth, likewise making him swallow every drop. Wonshik’s only luck was that the stool was narrow so he could hold himself at one place after they finished the session.

“Want me to help you?” – the grey-haired boy asked as the other got up and cleaned his hyung’s traces off of his body.

“No need to, I feel nothing.”

“No need to hide it. I mean, you just sucked me off, I can do the same and – “ – Wonshik couldn’t finish his sentence because Seonghwa interrupted him.

“And I mean I don’t want you. As I said I just wanted you to take the hint and this was the best decision I could make. You can excuse yourself out of here, you got what you wanted. A new trophy on your shelf. I hope I can get at least a little title engraved on it.” – the older was totally dumbfounded when he left the bathroom without the boy, staring in front of himself when the other returned and started to devour his food. His brain couldn’t process what he got himself into. He was ready to give himself to someone and he rejected him. This never happened.

“San, I think I’m going to commit the dumbest shit in my life.” – he whispered to the black-haired boy.

“What is it?”

“I’m going on a date, and I will fucking break him.” – San’s heart skipped a beat. Or two. Or one thousand. No one really noticed how those two were missing for fifteen minutes or so, but him. He felt something was off. Every time his friend was gone with someone they would reek of each other’s scent, but this time there was nothing. He couldn’t feel anything coming from his hyung nor that annoying bastard. They definitely looked like they just had a quickie but there was no real proof. He hated the fact that he knew nothing, what they talked about, what they did, how they separated, just what the hell was going on. But somewhere, in the deepest and darkest corner of his heart and soul he hated the fact the Seonghwa wasn’t with him.


	8. Chapter 8

All Seonghwa wanted was a nice meal and a long-long chatting or gaming with his best friend. He mentioned that he had somethings bottled up inside him which usually ended up with going to a late-night drive to the river side or up a hill. Sometimes they would eventually go to Wonwoo’s apartment or on a walk with dogs. So this is why Seonghwa didn’t understand at all why he was sitting in a family restaurant waiting for the boy. They would never go to places like this when they have important stuff to talk about, which they didn’t want others to hear accidentally. The Beta already ordered himself a blueberry smoothie since his friend texted him he would be late a little bit, so he let himself have a little me-time. As he was drinking his _The Berry Paradise_ , he observed others. Most of the people were families, as expected from a family restaurant. In some family there would be two children three or even four. There were cases when only the mother or the father was present. He somehow had ability to guess who were related by blood, so he could spot several re-married couple too. This ability of his wasn’t anything special, it was more like a really strong sixth sense. Sometimes he would be mistaken but in general he was right. After he fully observed the little touches, the looks, the tensed bodies, the little sweat drops on a person’s face or heard some part of the conversation he knew what was going on. The “new” parent wanted to satisfy their partner’s desire by taking care of their child. Most of the times it would work, the children loved and accepted the fact that their real parents weren’t together anymore, but there were the special cases. When they were angry at their parents, at other happy families and at themselves for not being the child their family wanted, so obviously this could’ve been the only reason why mommy and daddy were not together anymore. Those who thought like this were the most stressed one, but they were wrong. Seonghwa strongly had the mentality that if two people got cold it’s not because of the children. Especially in this world. They could’ve been mistaken when they mated. More like, tried to mate. Since their new partner were the real, and with the old one they were just holding onto an imagination what gave contentment to both of them. Although his parents weren’t the perfect example in many ways but still kind of super in other ways, Seonghwa was happy that their mating and marriage wasn’t an illusion of the first love.

As he was laughing at a little girl who was singing some cartoon’s theme song, the restaurant’s door opened and every eye there was on the most beautiful lady anyone has ever seen. She had a fair skin complexion, hazelnut brown eyes which were a little bit bigger than the average but still had sharp edges. Her hair was black and straight, its end somewhere around the middle of her back. Her lips were somehow plump but she was smiling with all her might. Her face clearly showed she was happy because she found her mate. As Seonghwa’s eyes wandered from her face down to the rest of her body he noted to himself that her Alpha must be the most fortunate male on this whole planet. She had a slender body, all the clothes fitted her perfectly, she was skinny but not in a negative way but more in the healthy way. She was tall in her high heels, but not too high what could’ve made her unapproachable. Seonghwa’s first though about her was jackpot. But he soon let everything connected to her go away since he knew a goddess like her would want nothing from a mere Beta like him. So he stared out of the window still waiting for Wonwoo.

“Hey Hwa, we’re here.” – as soon as Seonghwa turned his head to the direction of the familiar voice he was greeted with his best friend’s face and the previous beauty’s shy smile. After a few second of realization Seonghwa stood up and introduced himself to the girl who kindly did the same. After the awkward introductions and all the eyes on them they sat down and remained silent until the waiter came to get their orders. Wonwoo and Seonghwa went with an extra-large hamburger with extra cheddar cheese with lots of French fries. On the other hand, Chungha, Wonwoo’s girlfriend ordered something entirely different. Her meal consisted of three parts: a soup which was basically a leek cream soup, a salad with tons of tofu, avocado and other stuff Seonghwa didn’t even hear so far in his 23 years and lastly some Vietnamese spring rolls without meat. To break the silence the girl was the first one to speak.

“I am a fake vegan.” – she blurted, out of nowhere. Wonwoo only laughed at her remark but Seonghwa didn’t know what to do with the information.

“Excuse me?” – asked the Beta.

“My whole family consists of vegans. But not those who try to force things on you, but the cute and dope ones. Ever since my childhood vegetables and fruit were important for me, but my Mother made sure I ate meat. It was a little bit against of her appetite and life style, but she believed she should offer us anything the world had for us. So, until we were sixteen me and my sister would eat meat-based food three times a week, but one day I woke up and realized that eating meat was always a little bit forced for me and I was more comfortable without it. So I decided to leave meat out of my menu, since I felt my body was comfortable this way. Then I had to admit that in my opinion it was better for the world and animals, but the main reason isn’t these. But why am I fake, you might ask. Sometimes, like once in a blue moon I crave meat. You know, a nice steak or some grilled shrimp. Oh my God at times like that I could eat a whole cow.” – the girl was talking a lot. She somehow resembled Hakyeon when it came to talking without taking a breath. Although her speech made Seonghwa wonder and think about many stuff, even his own meals and how many of them really included normal amount of vegetable. His silence made the girl panic. – “Oh no, you must think I’m crazy. But no, it’s just… I can’t eat meat when I don’t want to, just like how it isn’t nice to force kids to eat the vegetables they don’t like for example spinach.”

“Hey, I don’t think you’re crazy. I was just thinking about when will you run out of breath and I was getting ready to dial the ambulance.” – Seonghwa tried his best to make the girl feel at ease.

“Oh, sorry. Sometimes I forget I talk a lot. I usually talk a lot when I’m nervous.”

“And all the other times, but of course I respect you for trying.” – Wonwoo said then he patted Chungha’s head. Seonghwa could see this move was filled with love from both parties. They really were a match made in heaven.

“Most people say I am a vegan because that’s the trend these days, but it’s so hard to explain to them that it is more than possible someone doesn’t desire meat. The saliva in their mouth doesn’t get doubled when they see a nice amount of fried chicken. However, it’s the same when someone doesn’t like asparagus.” – the girl still held onto the topic to make sure her mate’s friend wouldn’t think badly of her.

“And do you like asparagus?” – Seonghwa asked quietly, as if he wanted to know the biggest secret of the country.

“I could throw up just by thinking about it.” – the beauty was imitating the boy’s gestures and answered him as secretively as possible.

“May I dare to ask why we are discussing the shame of the vegetable community in such low and suspicious manner?” – Wonwoo was quick to join them in the murmuring.

“Because what if an asparagus-enthusiast hears us and decide to kill us?” – Chungha was looking at him with all seriousness, with a fearful but still playful tone in her voice.

“Or torture us and then sacrifice us to the Gods of asparagus and the next thing everyone will know is that because of us, they can’t eat anything but asparagus.” – although Wonwoo looked at Seonghwa in hopes of getting a slightly normal and acceptable answer out of him, he realized that he was as insane as his mate.

“Your order is here.” – said the waitress who was ready to place each plate in front of them.

“Oh God, thanks. I was ready to go crazy.” – Wonwoo looked at the girl with grateful eyes.

“Because of hunger?”

“Because of asparagus.” – Chungha and Seonghwa replied at the same time, leaving the poor girl confused and Wonwoo with some second-hand embarrassment. The rest of the lunch went pretty smoothly. Seonghwa showed lots of interest towards Chunga’s family and their views, sometimes obviously arguing with her and sometimes agreeing with her. Both of them seemed to get along pretty well, since both of them respected each other and had a positive mindset towards the other which originated from the most common thing they shared: how much they loved Wonwoo and they didn’t want to hurt him by not liking someone he liked. Fortunately, none of them had to pretend the liking they picked up along the conversations since they were on the same wavelength in many topics. Before their dessert time, Chungha excused herself to the bathroom, then the boys shared a pretty intimate exchange of looks.

“You told her to go to the bathroom, right?”

“Of course, I couldn’t wait for your opinion until the night. So what do you think?”

“She’s intelligent, accepting, open-minded and pretty fun. I think people automatically start to smile when they see her, and not because of the beauty she was gifted with, but because of her personality. I don’t know how to put it into words, but she seems like the kind of positive person you need in your life. She is perfect for you. And you are perfect for her.”

“Thank you for being my friend, really.” – Wonwoo usually was a strong and independent man, but he had his weaker times. When he needed support. He knew he could receive it from his best friend anytime, but when he found his mate he really felt like his life was already fulfilled even without getting a degree or a decent job. Wonwoo held Seonghwa’s hand and stroke it a little bit as a sign of gratitude. For seeing them as soulmates, for seeing them as the people and couple they are and not just two pretty faces making a big mistake. – “We’ve done it. The mating ceremony. All steps of it.”

“And how was it?” – Seonghwa asked worriedly, since he knew the mating ceremony, being the best thing could happen to someone could be really hurtful. He knew his friend’s nature and was aware of the fact that he wouldn’t want to hurt anyone, especially if it was someone he truly loved.

“It wasn’t that bad. At least that’s what she says and I would like to think. I tried my best to not hurt her, but you know the stories and the legends around this…”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay. I don’t want to pressure you.”

“Thank you. But… despite the process, the result is indescribable. The morning I woke up next to her knowing and feeling that she’s going to be with me until the rest of my life was… amazing. I felt as much happiness as I never were able to feel. It sounded better in my head, but still. I love her. Our parents told us to wait, to make sure that it wasn’t the decision of a happy moment. But we waited six long month and every time I was without her, or I had to be with someone else who wanted something more from me, I felt like dying. So, I asked her if she officially wanted to be my soulmate. And she said yes. And I am happy.” – Seonghwa never seen his friend talk like this. He could sense that his feelings were full of love and true. He was glad that his best friend found his happiness.

After the Omega girl returned from the bathroom, they continued their meal and conversations. They stayed there for a couple of hours until they decided to leave. The three of them got into Wonwoo’s car so they could take the girl home. The couple exchanged a quick but romantic goodbye, then the two friends went on a drive. Seonghwa loved every moment with Chungha, but he waited for this moment all day. During the ride he wasn’t talking, that was the main reason Wonwoo knew there was something wrong with him. They didn’t talk at all; their only companion was the radio and its MC who was always ready to introduce the upcoming songs the most ridiculous way ever. Wonwoo stopped the car somewhere near a bridge so they could stare at the beautiful night view of their city until Seonghwa was ready to speak.

“I had an affair with Wonshik.” – after half an hour of deadly silent Seonghwa finally decided how to introduce the news to his friend.

“You had a what with who?”

“It happened during the last dinner we had together. I don’t know, I was extremely pissed off that day because of my sister’s Omega, I can’t even recall now why. So all I wanted was to let some steam out by eating and observing people, you know what I always do. But this asshole was sending his scents towards me all night. I’m not stupid, I noticed that each time we met he would bombard me with his useless seducing. But that night I couldn’t bare it anymore, we went to the bathroom and I kinda sucked his dick.”

“So, you’re telling me you gave him a blowjob.”

“Basically, yes.”

“Because you were angry at him.”

“Technically speaking, yes.”

“I hope you are aware of the fact that he won’t leave you alone. He probably will want more than a quickie in a stool. Are you prepared for that?”

“Wonwoo, I’m not a child. In some ways I am a 23-year-old grown up man who made a slightly big mistake. But I’m on my way to correct it and scare him away from me for a whole eternity.”

“How?” – Wonwoo never received an answer for his question. At least an answer said with words. Seonghwa looked at him the most painful way ever. There were sadness, madness, sickness, loneliness and depression in those eyes. Seonghwa knew very well Wonshik was just a player, who wasn’t ready to commit himself to something serious and the best way to scare a person like that away is to show him a part of his soul. The scars what’ve been hurting him for years, the deep thoughts he hides from everyone. – “I swear to God if your plan takes a wrong turn, I will kill you.”

“Not if I do it before you.” – Seonghwa showed a bitter smile to the scenery in front of them.

“PARK SEONGHWA!” – Wonwoo rarely shouted, but this situation made him do it. He didn’t want to hear any of this kind of thing coming from Seonghwa’s mouth.

“Don’t worry, I was just joking. But I wanted you to know that if I disappear for a while, it will be because of my thoughts are eating me up.”

“Then I will go to you and punch those human-eating thoughts.”


	9. Chapter 9

_’Let’s go on a real date.’_ – was the message Wonshik received a few days after the incident with Seonghwa. He knew the boy wouldn’t be able to resist his charms, he probably lived inside his head all day long. Since he didn’t want to seem way too eager, he decided to ignore the boy’s text for a while, then next day he replied with a short _‘Saturday, 1 pm’_ which was followed by a relatively cold response. The Alpha was planning out everything, since this day differed from the one-night stands, he had so far. They would usually go to a motel after a night-long worth of dancing and teasing, but this time it wasn’t the case. He had to be careful in order not to scare the other away or make him change his mind. He had to be a real master of seduction this time. After many pages and advices from the Internet he was sure that their Saturday was going to be a typical romantic one, whit presents, a lunch at the park, a boat tour on the river then an amusement park and finally Wonshik’s favorite motel which had a pretty nice view to the city and a rather wide range of room service. He was ready to give his all.

Seonghwa obediently followed everything what the other male had for him. He more or less enjoyed all the programs they had attended. The boat tour was interesting since luckily, he could choose from the different companies and he went with one what offered a guide too. He had the opportunity to see the park and its river from a different side, from a tourist’s point of view. What professionals thought would be essential and interesting for someone who was here for a quick visit, and what he thought was really important. The two opinions overlapped a few times, but the Beta many times wondered whether the information was really necessary or not. Because personally, he always preferred to know what a really famous person, like a writer or a politician did at the building or at the square and not some “big and successful sportsmen”. For example, he would have changed the “most famous Korean baseball player lived here for a while” fact to the “did you know that building, behind the bridge was the exact point where many scientists were experimenting the effect of additional Beta hormones pumped into Alphas and Omegas. Which resulted in many infections and death since it all was an illegal movement from some government hating, ‘we are all normal people’ believers, who were more likely to sometimes torture Alphas and Omegas since they thought the system was unfair with them because they got such a low title”. The only negative factor was his partner. When he presented him with his imaginations and facts the other was barely paying real attention or even saw a hint of annoyance in his eyes, which hurt Seonghwa a little bit, but made him sure that his plan was going to succeed by the end of the day.

When the boat tour came to an end, they decided to have a lunch in the nearby park. After they found a nice place where there was enough amount of sunshine and shadow too, Wonshik being the expert he was, ordered two servings of Jjajangmyeon with pickled radish and some scallion pancake. As they were waiting for the food they talked about useless stuff, at least none of the things Wonshik said was interesting to Seonghwa. It all included people he didn’t care about or totally portrayed how the older boy wasn’t honest not only to Seonghwa but to himself too. He was living in a lie, which he brought to life by destroying his own soul. When the Beta sensed all the scars in the other’s heart and soul he started to pity him, but he knew he wasn’t the one who was destined to grab him out of his imaginary castle but someone else. Therefore, after they ate the incredibly delicious food, Seonghwa decided to lay down the grass. Wonshik followed him and put his arm under the boy’s head. As they were laying down, some children were playing next to them. As Seonghwa observed how they were playing with the bubbles something popped into his mind and he felt that this was the right time to begin his plan. His soul was slowly eaten by darkness.

“Where you think bubbles go?” – Seonghwa asked Wonshik, who gave him a confused look.

“They don’t go anywhere. The children are popping them.”

“Yeah, but there are bubbles they can’t pop. Which reach higher than their small figure. Where do those go?”

“I don’t know, they probably pop somewhere else. You know, they bump into a tree, another child, a pole, a sign or something.”

“Yeah, but do you think they have feelings?”

“Bubbles with feelings? Ridiculous.”

“No, just think about it. They are produced from mixing two things, just like us, ready to be set free. They see their mates getting popped, which could mean that we also see people die or disappear from our life. But we must go on with life. We go higher and higher and even higher and when we think we finally reached freedom, it’s over. The bubble bumps into a tree, and it dies. Just like us. Children remember some bubbles, like you know, the really big and pretty ones. They may even talk about it. But what about the small or regular ones that got away? They know they saw one once, but in the end, it falls into oblivion. Just like us. You’re a big bubble who people can’t or don’t want to forget easily, but I’m just a small bubble in the eye of the country, the school, sometimes maybe my parents too and in your eyes too. I’m nothing special to you, just a way to spend your time for a while, but you don’t even care if I disappear out of your life because another one will come. Just like how those children don’t even get bothered that one of the bubbles got away because they are aware of the fact that a new is about to come.”

“What the hell is your problem?” – Wonshik was more than furious about how the Beta was behaving. All smart and philosophical about the comparison between humans and bubbles. Like how did he go from being satisfied with the food to having such depressing thoughts. He couldn’t understand what just happened in a blink of an eye and where did his perfect day go wrong.

“My problem is, as mentioned before, that I don’t want to be a trophy. I don’t want love; I don’t want a partner or any kind of relationship aside from what I already have. Unlike you. You’re an Alpha, who has big traumas, probably from his teenager days and still don’t know how to properly commit himself to one person or to one feeling. And I clearly don’t want to get involved with someone who can easily become obsessed with a fantasy created by the walls he’s trying to protect himself with. Not for one night and not for the rest of your life. I tolerate you because you’re Hakyeon’s friend but I can’t tolerate the lifestyle you’re trying to force on people who are just as miserable as you.” – Wonshik simply stared at the boy for many minutes which seemed like a whole eternity to Seonghwa. He was ready to get yelled, cursed at. He prepared himself enough that today might end up with him getting bruises both on his heart and his face. His predictions were right because the grey-haired male punched him in the face with his powerful fist. Then started to yell, but Seonghwa couldn’t process any of his words because he was thinking about the perfect time to leave. He saw people coming towards their direction and the boy was still going on about him being a know-it-all useless and oxygen stealing Beta, likewise the best thing to do was to leave. The Beta grabbed his bag and left the chaos he caused outside, but brought the chaos created inside with himself.

Seonghwa could feel the weight of the stares on his back but after he totally left the battlefield, he was free from the curious and scornful looks. He was alone with his headphones and thoughts. The kind of one-sided conversation with the Alpha brought a certain thought to himself what he wasn’t ready to present in front of someone he didn’t trust enough. He called it the death of the bubbles inside of his head. It depressed him and pushed him down the ground that they were similar with a bubble. How life lasts only for a while, how we live our life peacefully then one day everything ends and we’re gone. Back in the days when he found about him being a Beta he thought he was able to greet death but in the end he was always afraid to do so. He was afraid of the unknown, of the darkness waiting for him at the other side. Seonghwa sometimes started to wonder about life and its meanings but somehow always went to the path of death. It seemed as he couldn’t find his place in Earth, in this lifetime so he would wait for death. But in death he saw nothing but horror. It was as if he was wandering between life and death until someone up there was ready to decide what kind of destiny to write for him. The male unconsciously went back to the park in hopes of not meeting the previous male and families there. He threw himself down to the grass and was staring at the wide river in front of him. He started to smile painfully at the memory how many times he wondered about how would drowning feel.

But as Seonghwa was slowly getting more and more trapped inside his dark reality, someone up there really decided on his fate. A strong wind sent shivers down his spine, although there wasn’t a single sign of wind all day.

“Seonghwa hyung, what are you doing there?” – he recognized the voice, although he couldn’t tell exactly whose it was. As he looked up he was clearly disappointed when he had to face the perfect couple, San and Wooyoung.

“Contemplating about life. Don’t mind me, just go on with your date or whatever.” – he answered as he looked at Wooyoung and then San. In the latter, for some unknown reason, he had his eyes for a longer time. Almost as if he was waiting for him to say something.

“Let’s go Young-ah.” – the Alpha was ready to go but his mate stopped him.

“We’re not going anywhere; he clearly needs help.” – Wooyoung sat down beside Seonghwa and smiled at him lovingly. – “And we’ll always be here for you.”

“May I ask why?” – Seonghwa asked as he watched San sitting down with an annoyed expression on his face.

“Because we’re friends.”

“Whatever, stay here if you want to.”

“Good.” – the three boys spent minutes without talking. The silence was nerve-racking, San felt he was about to go crazy. Once again, because of Seonghwa. Because he couldn’t decide what annoyed him the most: the existence of the boy or the pain in his eyes. San totally ignored his lover’s soft murmurs about how beautiful the stars were, but was focused on Seonghwa. Whether he would be able to read something off from his face, his eyes or his body talk. But there was no sign of anything concrete just the aura of depression. That was the time he decided to turn on his hearing. He couldn’t hear the other’s thoughts, but his heartbeat. He thought maybe from that he could guess what was bothering their “friend”. After a few minutes of analyzation San panicked because he was barely hearing any normal form of heartbeat. He heard almost nothing from the other’s heart.

“Get yourself together.” – San grabbed Seonghwa’s shirt, ready to slap some sense back to him but some incomprehensible tears were falling down all over the Beta’s face. San was kneeling blankly in front of him, still holding onto the shirt as if it was the last thing keeping Seonghwa alive.

“You said we were friends, right?” – Seonghwa slowly turned his head towards Wooyoung who nodded but was ready to call an ambulance any minute. – “Then when I die, will you remember me?”

“What are you talking about? You won’t die.” – Wooyoung tried to hush the sadness away, but it was all meaningless.

“We all going to die someday. I’m not asking you to bury me or mourn me, because I already have everything planned, but… to sometimes remember me. I’m so scared of it. Becoming forgotten, as if I never lived. No one telling stories about me, no one having a good memory about me. Could you please at least sometimes tell your children how we had some debate in class?” – Seonghwa this time was looking San in the eye, who the same as Wooyoung nodded slowly.

“We will tell them about you. But, wouldn’t it be better if you could tell them yourself?” – now San held his shoulders instead of his shirt.

“Of course, but you never know what will happen the next minute. Something might explode or it might start raining.” – they were staring at each other without speaking, again. Wooyoung already called Wonwoo to quickly come and be the support Seonghwa needed right now. Less than in ten minutes the boy was there and almost had a heart attack when he saw his friend’s empty eyes.

“Hey Hwa, what’s up man? We should go home, shouldn’t we?” – he squatted down as he was gently taking Seonghwa away from San.

“I don’t want to go home.”

“Then what about a ride?” – he didn’t answer instead got up and let Wonwoo to lead him to his car. As they were going away, the boys heard some footsteps coming behind from them, then someone grabbed Seonghwa’s shoulder.

“You said everything was planned for the time you’re dead. What did you mean by that? You’re just 23 years old.”

“I’m already 23 years old, and anything could happen to me. And by that I meant that I am already looking for a hospital where they accept bodies of the deceased. You know, for medical studies. I never was a genius in Biology nor anything connected to science, so I decided that if in my lifetime I won’t be able to contribute something to the society, then after my death. But I’m still looking for the best hospital. Oh, and I am still waiting for a good lawyer who will precisely write my will. So graduate before I die.”

San totally turned off his hearing. He wasn’t able to hear what the other two was saying because he was in utter shock. He was staring at Seonghwa’s sad back and his heart started to ache. He felt sorry towards him and wanted to cure him somehow. That night San gained is first real fear in life. The fear of losing Park Seonghwa, forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear, having Hwa kind of depressed wasn't my original intention. But it happened this way:( But it will get better sooner or later:)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !Attention! This chapter includes a history I totally made up and probably work with it in the future. So, if you're an enthusiast about History, please don't hate me a lot. Thanks😇

Ever since that day with Wonshik, Seonghwa felt like a zombie. He was wandering between his parents’ flat and Somin’s flat. One day he felt it was nice having a home with his parents, who gave him everything he asked for, who was tiptoeing to not bother him with the smallest noise they could make. But on other days, it was the most annoying thing. How they never asked how their son was, how he felt, why was he like that, what happened to him. He wanted nothing but a small amount of real attention coming from his mother and father. He didn’t want what money could give him, but something only living and feeling creatures could give to each other: love. At times like this, he decided to leave the place for a few hours or days, hiding in his sister’s home. Joon and Soomin loved him a lot. They prepared his favorite meals, played games with him and even watched documentaries or kind of depressing movies with him. They saw him as their own child, but despite this Seonghwa sometimes felt uncomfortable. He felt he was a nuisance for the couple. They couldn’t take care of themselves, or the little one in Somin’s stomach. Seonghwa obviously helped them decorating the baby’s room. It was a good way to lock the taunting thoughts out of his head, but since the decoration didn’t last long, he was visited by his nightmares again. When he felt like the whole world was against him, he did nothing all day but cuddle with Haengbog. He took the dog on walks by the river side, on mountains or simply parks the most far away from their place. In those fifteen days he spent at home, Hyojung visited him too. She couldn’t provide the emotional support the other sister could, but still sometimes gave more than their parents. Hyojung was sometimes a little bit awkward around sad people, which came out pretty badly given the fact that her own little brother fell into the darkness way too many times.

“You’re not weak, Seonghwa. Not even a little bit. You’re still on your way to find your strength. You will be really-really strong one day, when life can’t give you any more slaps in the face. You will learn how to fend off those attacks. All my little brother needs isn’t time. It’s bullshit that time will heal your scars. It’s going to be you who heals his own scars, no one else. You just need to wait and search harder to find a way to console your soul, your heart and your mind. Everything happens in your mind, it doesn’t matter what that blood pumping bunch of muscle tells you, never forget this. Now get your act together, here’s some book, at least lecture yourself if you stay out of university for a while.” – Hyojung sometimes was harsh, but this characteristic of her never showed coldness for her siblings. Her words were always words of wisdom wrapped in a bit tougher wrapping paper. Seonghwa was grateful for her sisters not letting him being consumed by darkness.

Besides his sisters there was one more person, who did everything he could. Jeon Wonwoo. Obviously, Jeongin and Hakyeon tried to reach out to him and help him, but they didn’t know his address and Wonwoo never received a permission from his friend to provide his personal information to anyone. So all the other two could do was write him messages in online and offline way too. After four days of unread messages, Jeongin wrote his first letter to the boy what Wonwoo gladly handed him. Hakyeon, following the youngest’s move did the same, so every time the best friends met, Seonghwa was greeted with two nicely written letters. On the latest visit, alongside the letters the curly-haired boy handed his friend a little figure.

“What’s this?” – Seonghwa observed the present but didn’t know what to do with it.

“It’s a lion. A Korean Lion. You know, lions contain enough strength and power to drive bad spirits away. Look, it even has your name on it.” – the dark-haired boy looked at the little lion. It indeed had his name on its neck, a little bell on its enormous head with brown hair-like thread.

“I may not be the smartest, but I’m aware of our culture. I meant why am I getting this?”

“Chungha made it for you. I told her you weren’t feeling well emotionally and she wanted to help you somehow. I told her nothing could really help you right now, but she insisted on making this little fellow here for you. You should be glad you received this, I had to talk her down from performing a _Bongsan_ for you.” – Seonghwa stared into his palms where his gift was. He never really cried out of happiness, nor because of anything. He preferred to not shred tears in life after Hyunmin died, but this time a small teardrop fell down from the corner of his eyes. He was happy, because someone who wasn’t his family or Wonwoo, cared about him. Truly cared about him.

“Tell her I’m extremely happy and I will treasure it forever.”

“Why not tell it yourself?”

“I don’t know, I’m not ready yet. It’s not because of Wonshik and how awkward everything would be, not talking about Hakyeon finding something about, but it’s more like my thoughts are not ready to let go off me.”

“So you still need some time?”

“Yeah.”

“Thought so. Just like Prof Son. She gave me at least a hundred book for you to read, it’s inside that bag. The only thing she told me about them is that hopefully you’ll find a part of yourself inside them. So I guess these are some self-confidence boosting, ‘love yourself’ and life advisor books, which both of us hate but I couldn’t tell her this so I brought it to you. Read them, then at least you will know you don’t want to become a motivational speaker.” – Wonwoo handed him all the gifts people gave him, then stayed for two hours or so. When Seonghwa was really under himself they would spend five hours together without saying a word. Wonwoo exactly knew when his friend needed talk and when he needed silence with a companion. As his soul started to forget his demons for the time being, Seonghwa started to speak too. He wanted to know what everyone was up to, he wanted to see movies, go to theater or go to a new or famous restaurant. So when Seonghwa said he looked up some of the places Chungha mentioned and how much he was excited for exploring the vegan flavors, Wonwoo knew that his best friend was about to come back.

Seonghwa spent the night at his own house, in his own room. He read his friends’ messages and already thought about some little presents he wanted to give them for all the support they gave him. Life may be unbearable sometimes, but at least he had amazing friends. After placing Chungha’s lion to a well-seen place on his nightstand, he took a look at the books his teacher gave him. For his biggest surprise the books weren’t about accepting ourselves, but about history. His history. Many researcher’s books, articles and study about those like him. Professor Son sent him books about Betas. Professor Son didn’t want him to get better because of someone else’s motivational quotes, but because of knowledge and a new view on life. He spent nearly two days on reading and taking notes from the books. He had many conclusions, questions and ideas to share with the Alpha women. Seonghwa prepared some nice pages of the most important parts.

_‘History of our society, alias the rise of the poor created another hole for everyone_

_According to many researcher Alphas, Omegas and Betas appeared around 1444. Many theorists tend to stick to this date based on Asian people’s superstitions – the fear of the number 4. It came from Chinese and Japanese culture where the pure pronunciation of the number 4 was the same as death’s. People outside Korea preferred this date because if we add every number in 1444, they equal to 13 which is considered as a lucky number and day in many, for example European countries. Up until today, no one gave an exact answer to what happened before 1444 or what happened in that exact year but the mentioning of people being categorized into Alphas, Betas and Omegas start at that time._

_Many professionals stated the reason of a big revolution, which later resulted in today’s society’s base, were regulations made by noblemen. No one could give an acceptable explanation to why people in the East and in the West started to live this way exactly the same time, but theorists say it was because of a regulation which somehow traveled all around the world and was liked by many in the higher class. In some countries couples could only have children if they were acknowledged of it. If an office found them financially stable, genetically proper and mentally healthy. Obviously, every rich people got the permission of having successors, however poor people sometimes had to beg or even pay everything they had for a piece of paper. They not only were afraid of no one saying good bye to them, no one taking care of them and their life-long work, but they were afraid of not having a miracle coming to their families. Since health wasn’t really an issue at that time, many children died because of many reasons, such as poor condition in cleanliness in the household, etc. If someone had a dead child behind them and wanted a new one, there was a 99% chance the couple wouldn’t receive a permission since they were too lowly for creating a new life. On the 28 th of February, 1444 a married couple, lost their ten-year-old boy while the woman was already pregnant with their second child with a proper permission. However, upon the news of his death, officials took care of the woman and her baby, by brutally bringing the child to life then killing him. The fact of loosing both of her children gave the mother such a big trauma, that she ended her life in front of the king’s palace. Meanwhile, the father had to deal with loosing all of his family. He could be considered popular amongst the poor, so one day he called a meeting of those who were in the same situations as him, or anyone who found that system unacceptable and unfair. On the 4th of April, 1444 around 4444 rebels all over the world attacked several noblemen’s home and palaces. There they didn’t only kill those who were in their way, but tortured noblemen, let them be fair or unfair, kind or evil, by making them watch the rebels deciding on whether their children were worth of living or not. Some say the end of the slaughter in their country happened, when the king was facing his daughter who was in her 7th month of pregnancy. The king begged for mercy, to kill him instead of the girl. To kill everyone, since everyone was someone’s children. Researchers say, all around the world something similar happened what resulted in several trials. Poor people stated they didn’t want money or property; they wanted the right of having children even if they couldn’t afford it. All they wanted was a full life as a family. Later on that year, the doctors of that time came up with a solution which later on “infected” the whole world. Doctors somehow put wolves’ blood into people’s body. They were curious what would happen. Two of the patients showed extreme change. They were like puzzles, they stick together, the male was protecting his female with everything he had, almost as if they were real animals. Then the first heat happened alongside the first mating ceremony. When both noblemen and poor people realized and came to an agreement about it being the best solution, for some weird reason. This way, people could climb the ladder way easier. Both up and down. A poor could go up by being an excellent Alpha or a worthy Omega, just like how a rich person could go down if they were born as submissive Omegas. No one really found an answer or a way to why, how and when this happened to the whole population, but this is the date, every Beta-researchers agree on._

_But there’s one more thing, no one can explain. How do Betas exist? If everyone got the injection, then it spread by natural birth, how in the name of all existing deity, people without anything “wolf-like” in their DNA were born? How they weren’t killed by Alphas and Omegas? Why they had the right to live on? Some say groups, who opposed the idea of wolf blood going into them, run away from their countries and hide all around the world, pretending to be someone else. This resulted in false mating ceremonies, and the existence of the original human DNA and blood. That’s why Betas are still living. Because no one wanted to repeat the slaughter what happened in 1444 by killing children, who were about to experience of life. Human kind showed its nicer face to children, that’s why Betas live.’_

When Seonghwa finished writing his thoughts, his first visit on the online community after weeks of being offline, was his university’s home page, more accurately the list of majors. When he found the major, he hoped existed in his university, the first thing he did was to call his best friend. He had to tell him the seven magic words: Origin researcher major, focused on Betas’ species.

“Wonwoo, get your brain ready, we’re about to have our majors!”


	11. Chapter 11

_How’s he?_ – Was the only thing San could think about for the past weeks, ever since that night occurred with Seonghwa. Whenever the boy popped up in his mind, the first thing he knew was their bickering in class. How they would ignore each other each time they went on a gathering. Or how they knew nothing about each other besides their name and title. San sometimes wondered how would it feel to really know Seonghwa. What he liked, who he liked, what he hated, who he hated. Whether he was a Marvel or a DC enthusiast. If he liked mangas, animes or comic. If he liked Ghibli studios, which was his favorite. San bet it was Howl’s Moving Castle, since he reminded San of Howl. Being all prince-like but still very mysterious. San’s favorite was obviously Spirited Away. Another thing he was curious about, why he never saw the boy eat mushroom. Did he hate only mushrooms or all vegetable in general? But it wasn’t possible, since he saw the light in the taller’s eyes each time a pickled dish was offered for him. By the end of these wanderings he had to slap himself in the face, usually physically too. Why was he bothering with thinking about the boy? Why he acted like a teenage girl who couldn’t help but imagine herself and her future husband in the nicest house ever existed. To shoo away his attention from the Beta boy he would go to the gym and run for hours. He knew there was a problem when he ran around 30 kilometers, still thinking about ways to cheer the boy up. The only reason he couldn’t run more, was the gym instructor who told San the gym was about to close and if he didn’t want to stay there with the ghosts, he should leave. Fortunately, the Alpha got that tired by the time he reached his bed, he automatically fell asleep. In his dreams, no one was bothering him. Like, ever. Ever since he found out he had the hearing-gift his dreams disappeared. He saw nothing, but blackness. Some could think this wasn’t normal, or how he never gets a good sleep or had an unbalanced and unhealthy sleeping routine. But those people would be wrong. Every morning San woke up totally fine, without feeling tired. He always thought it was a simple sacrifice. He could hear everything he wanted to, but he was robbed out of the sweet dreams all his friends had.

Leading his thoughts to another way was the hardest at school. Whenever he saw how neither Seonghwa nor Wonwoo were present, he started to come up with explanations. How probably the boy was in a mental hospital, or how the best friends ran away to a land far-far away from here. He didn’t know why, but whenever the possibility of not seeing Seonghwa anymore hit him, he felt hopeless. He wasn’t interested in the boy, nor liked him, he just didn’t want anyone to be unhappy, depressed or worse.

“Are you thinking about him?” – Wooyoung asked him quietly. San automatically felt a compunction. He felt bad because he forgot to pay attention to his amazing lover.

“I only have time for you, babe.” – San answered, as he kissed the boy deeply. Their kisses would make everyone blush and the two of them were proud of how perfect they were. How they could make everyone’s fantasies go wild, how sexy and energetic they were. However, the exchange between them was as heated as ever, but Wooyoung’s eyes showed worry.

“I don’t need nice words now, San. You, just like me, have been thinking about Seonghwa Hyung the past days. His sight wasn’t something we could forget easily. Don’t you think we should ask his friends about his well-being?” – in the end, to console their souls, they approached Hakyeon and Jeongin. They were glad to tell everything they knew, although it wasn’t much. All both of them knew, was that Seonghwa needed time. He would usually make himself depressed when faced with a difficult or undesirable situation. That was the time everything clicked in San. The boy had a date with Wonshik. He quickly glanced at his best friend, who seemed to be doing well during breaks. But during classes, he dozed off way too many times and saw how his eyes were lost somewhere far away. They probably wandered around Park Seonghwa.

After their classes ended, San offered Wonshik to go to his house and have some competition on his Xbox. Every hard story needed to have a soft approach in order to be able to be heard. As usual, they had a great time. They joked about how one of them died, or how another player somewhere in the world died. They were amazed by freshly unlocked levels or bosses, always got excited when a new weapon, car or character was introduced to them. They had some brutal missions, car races and hockey match behind them when San decided to bring the reason of this sudden meeting up.

“What happened between you and Park Seonghwa?” – San asked, almost out of the blue.

“Nothing.”

“Hyung…”

“Nothing you, or everyone else should know.”

“Wonshik hyung, please. The boy doesn’t come to school and you also look like a really-really shitty copy of yourself what got run over at least a thousand time. I’m your best friend, if I’m right. I know we never really talk about these emotional stuffs, ‘cause I have Young and you’re you, but this situation will include more people. Not only you and him, but probably Hakyeon, Taekwoon, consequently everyone else.” – they sit there without talking for minutes. Or hours, San couldn’t keep up with the time. He was staring at his best friend, sending all the positive energy he had in him for the boy to have enough courage to tell the entire story.

“That boy’s crazy. Insane. Mad. Not normal. There’s something wrong in his head. He doesn’t have something correctly done in his mind. I feel disgusted just thinking about him.”

“Disgusted? Or… helpless? Panicked? Uncomfortable with a situation you’ve never faced before?”

“Okay. San, look. I took that bastard on a date. It went pretty well; I could even ignore all the bullshit he blurted out throughout the day. Then, after we ate, he started to talk about bubbles dying, children not caring about every bubble they make. And made some ridiculous conclusion about me, waiting for someone to save my soul, but he’s not the one and doesn’t want to become a trophy in my shelf. I just… I mean, if he told me no immediately, that would’ve been the best.”

“In fact, he did tell you no. Lots of times.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Definitely on ten people’s friendship’s side.” – Wonshik didn’t reply him, instead started a one-player game. Both of them monitored how all the monsters throw themselves at Wonshik at once, but the boy did nothing. If everything was true what his grey-haired friend told him, then it must’ve been a shock for him. He’s not used to deep thoughts, since he kind of wanted to save himself from commitment and being involved in one’s life way too much. So, hearing Seonghwa’s self-destructive thoughts might have been a punch in the face for him.

“Beta’s shouldn’t have deep feelings like this.” – the elder boy finally spoke.

“I know. But sadly, we’re all made out emotions. And water. You know, once the Internet was full with the amazing wisdom of some unknown teenager ‘60% of our bodies is water, so we’re basically cucumbers with problems’. Likewise, even a, khm, lowly Beta like him has feelings.”

“But the last person, who shared these kinds of thoughts with me was Youngmi.”

“Youngmi? Who’s Youngmi?” – San was confused, since he never heard this name before.

“My mate.”

“Your what?” – the younger Alpha barely shouted by the sudden news. Wonshik had a mate and still slept around with males and females? He had the best thing in his life and he wasn’t appreciating it? Why?

“Oh, my bad. My ex-mate. Or the girl who I thought was my mate. Ever since our childhood we were best friends. When I first lend her my toy in the kindergarten, I knew I was going to marry her. At the age of sixteen I confessed to her. She was so happy when I told her my feelings because she felt the same. She even started to cry out of happiness. When our families knew about the news, they threw a party for us. You know, for joining forces, or something like that. We spent five beautiful years together. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have gone to university. But she insisted on attending one. Sadly, we got into separate ones, but still enjoyed our first two years together. Then she became distant from me. I questioned her why was she like that, if I did something wrong, or if someone bullied her at the university. You know, for being way too beautiful, smart and already having a mate at such a young age. When I mentioned mating, she became furious. All along it seemed as if she wasn’t mad at me, but more at herself. In the end she told me everything. How our relationship was just a high school-love and our mating was fake. When I asked her how did she know that, she showed me the biggest proof ever. She had the mating sign on her heart. And I felt nothing. I didn’t feel if anything hurt or if something broke between our relationship. It just… happened. One day we were mates, then the next day fools. However, I didn’t feel physical pain due to the loss of my ‘mate’, my heart started aching. I felt like a piece of garbage for a year or so. That was when I skipped one year of the uni. Thinking that was what she wanted to do, why should I follow her will. Then I started to have sex with Betas, since you know the legends, they don’t mate that easily. It’s hard for them to find an Alpha or an Omega, they usually marry between each other, if they ever find someone fitting. I fooled around with them because I knew we could never go into unknown depth. But when it happened with Seonghwa, it was exactly like with Youngmi. When she told me we weren’t meant for each other. I hate hearing this. ‘Sorry, I’m not the one for you’. He unintentionally hurt me because I wanted to hurt him intentionally. I’m such a douche bag.” – San didn’t know what to say. He realized it was no accident that they never talked about their deeper feelings. Even though they were best friends, they didn’t talk about feelings, because hearing someone else’s pain hurt Wonshik. Because it reminded him of how hurt he was in reality. Since San was frozen for minutes all he could do was to hug his friend. It was probably the most intimate moment they ever had. That was the moment San really get to know his best friend, he saw his true self. Wonshik was clinging into San as if he was going to die when he lets go of the boy. Only his family was aware of what happened to him, no one else. From that moment on, San decided to be a real best friend. Not someone like Wonwoo to Seonghwa, because they were on another level, but someone he never was before to anyone.

“I’m so sorry, Hyung.” – San couldn’t bring himself to find the right words of consolation. Maybe there weren’t any correct for this situation. People were destinated to find their mates. It was a hard thing to do. There were mind games, broken hearts, mistaken feelings, bad decisions, happy moments, content lives and perfect families. Everybody had their own story of finding their mate, but sometimes it was way too forced. At least it looked like that to San. Some people were way too desperate to get their mate that they forgot to cherish the moment and the people they met with. And they fell into traps like Wonshik. It wasn’t the boy’s or the girl’s mistake. They were young, who wanted to love each other, to be a perfect example. But life had other intentions for them.

As he was thinking about these and was looking at his broken friend a sudden, but terrible idea popped up in his head. What if Wooyoung wasn’t the one for him?


	12. Chapter 12

„Okay, I ran to you as fast as I could. I hope you weren’t fucking with me, because I had to leave Chungha alone in the shopping mall alone and if she buys all the skin care product I also have to try, I’m going to be really upset with you!” – Wonwoo looked indeed out of breath even though he came with his car. He scanned his friend’s room and was welcomed with many books opened on the floor and a rather ambitious Seonghwa. – “So, what is it?” – he asked as he sat down next to the dark-haired boy.

“Okay, first of all, don’t kill me.”

“I won’t.”

“Nor, judge me way too much.”

“I won’t.”

“Okay. You know I’m an independent adult, who’s willing to make his own mistakes and learn from it if it fails.”

“Obviously I know. Look, if Professor Son’s motivational books made you want to become a motivational speaker, then let you be one. I won’t listen to all of your speeches, though. I’m not a masochist.”

“Perfect. I just wanted to make sure we play with opened cards.” – Seonghwa took a deep breath then looked into Wonwoo’s eyes through his pecs. – “Origin researcher major, focused on Betas’ species.” – a silent wall was formed between the two boys. The curly-haired boy was as shocked as ever. He stared at his friend trying to figure out whether he was joking or not. But when he more precisely read one of the titles of the books, which clearly stated _‘Where did we come from? The great revolution of 1444’_ ; his soul left his body for an extremely long moment.

“Park Seonghwa. Are you serious? Like, really serious? And I don’t want to hear any irrelevant Harry Potter-joke of doing your waiting in Azkaban for 12 years or any bullshit like that. Have you thought it through?”

“Of course, I have – “

“Haven’t! Are you really out of your mind? You spent five, let me repeat myself, almost FIVE years at university to become an Origin researcher? Do you really think YOU will find something people before you couldn’t? Hwa, these are not dinosaurs whose skeleton we can find, these are theories what can not be proved. You can’t analyze someone’s blood from 700 years ago.”

“But I can analyze the DNA in their bones!” – Seonghwa was fast to argue with his best friend. He was kind of disappointed in the boy, for not sharing his joy.

“You’re saying this as if you knew ANYTHING about Biology, or Science in general.”

“I can have partners. Those, who will search the human remains. And me, searching books, libraries, cities, families’ hidden diaries. With this profession I can travel all around the world.”

“And what gives you the perfect idea that a family will have any documents from the 15th century? Your family can’t find the drawings you and your sisters made, let alone anything over 600 years old. And where will you get that money, may I dare to ask?”

“There are organizations specialized in knowing where we came from. They want to know. Not for turning everything back, but for knowing who they really are. Those people provide us with money.”

“ ‘Us’, huh? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Yeas, us! That’s what I need. To know why am I like that. What ancestor of mine lied to our whole family that I came out like this. Besides, don’t you think that my parents would be the happiest if I go somewhere else, far-far away from them? They won’t have to show up anywhere with a trash son like me. They won’t have to worry about me, just give me enough money to buy plane tickets and they won’t ever see my face.”

“How can you say that? They can hear you. Obviously, they don’t know how to handle you sometimes, but they still love you. You’re their son!”

“And is there any other reason for them to like me? Do they like me because I’m handsome, tall, smart, good at playing games, reading or anything else? Or only just because I’m their son?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

“No. Not, when you’re a Beta.” – the boys became silent after this. Throughout their five years of friendship there never been an awkward silence moment. They always had something to talk about, or if not, they were fine like that. They were in their own thoughts, did their own thing alone but still together. However, this time it was different. Both of them wanted to say way too many things. Wanted to lecture the other about their opinion, wanted to shout reasons, wanted to throw shady things to the other’s head or throw actual object towards the other to get a sense of rationality. Seonghwa and Wonwoo never had a real debate. They had intellectual debates, but this time it was different. Wonwoo wanted the best for his friend, didn’t want him to suffer, meanwhile Seonghwa wanted his friend to accept is decision. Both of them sat down on the bed, in their own thoughts. They passed the time when they could debate. Now it was way too hard for any of them to say anything. One of them had to admit the defeat.

“I hope you’re aware of the fact that you won’t get an acceptable salary with this profession.” – Wonwoo was the one who broke the silence. He had to drop in the coldest but still less hurting fact he had in his head.

“There are institutions who are looking for researchers, since there aren’t a lot of us. They will provide me job.” – the curly boy had to roll his eyes at the word ‘us’. He didn’t want his best friend to become one of them.

“I hope you’re aware of the fact that you will get fired or get your salary reduced, in case you find nothing within the deadline.”

“Then I will have a good lawyer to protect me.” – Wonwoo wanted to go against him. Wanted to argue with the boy more to make him open his eyes. But the eyes. Those damned eyes. When Wonwoo turned toward Seonghwa and saw his eyes he felt like crying. In those eyes, which most of the time showed carelessness, hopelessness, sadness, depression and loss finally had a light. A little ray of hope what made Wonwoo’s heart ache. He was so ashamed of himself. Yeah, so his other half wouldn’t become a lawyer. Or a policeman. Or a judge. Or a doctor. Or a businessman. Or a factory worker. Or an accountant. Or a bank worker. Or an engineer. Or a plumber. Or an IT specialist. Or a chef. Or a waiter. But an origin researcher.

“I really hate you.” – said Wonwoo as he punched Seonghwa in the shoulder.

“I know. And I’m sorry you had to wait for this.”

“No. I’m glad I had to wait for this.” – Wonwoo finally laughed has he held his friend closely and looked at some now old man’s study. – “But I don’t know if I should hate Professor Son for this or be thankful for her.”

“Maybe both of them?”

“Seems fair enough. But I want you to know, that if you ever fail or get fired or start to hate your job or anything bad occurs to you, I will always have a free secretary place for you.”

“Thank you, mate. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“Well, I kind of know what I would do without you. I would have an extremely boring life. Thank God you’re here.”

“You’re welcome.” – after that the Alpha and the Beta went on with their usual life. Talked a lot about Seonghwa’s future major, how Wonwoo’s going to be the best lawyer, then went for a McDonalds to have some delivery food and started to eat it in their usual place at one of the higher hills.

Twenty days. That’s how long Seonghwa was away from school. When he first went back both Hakyeon and Jeongin jumped on him, in order to hug the hell out of him. The boy cautiously looked at Hakyeon, but after there wasn’t any mother-like speech he was sure Wonshik told no one about what happened between them. Seonghwa was sure he had to have a talk with the boy. To apologize to him, to not be awkward when the two groups were together. His classes went by pretty fast. Since he missed all the lecture but made up for all the missing parts thanks to Wonwoo, finally being able to hear his professors’ voices again made him excited. Mostly because he now knew what he wanted to do. He knew what subject would be essential for him and what not. He was glad he could say goodbye to Physics for a whole eternity but was glad to have Literature almost every day for the rest of his university life. When the Equality class finally came, he was more than excited to tell everything to Professor Son. As soon as the boy stepped into the lecture hall, the Alpha woman jumped from her seat, being content and relieved that her (favorite) student came back.

“Thank you for everything Professor Son. I can’t express how grateful I am.” – everyone knew Seonghwa wasn’t the hugging-type of person. He wouldn’t even hug his close friends a lot, let alone strangers. That was why everyone in the room got surprised and somehow suspicious when the boy hugged the teacher with all his might. For the two of them it wasn’t anything more than a grateful hug from a student to his teacher. That was a bond no one could break between them. When Seonghwa went to his place, right next to Jeongin, the class begun. The class was interesting, he knew, when he would submit his form to change majors his new timetable’s going to be full of classes held by Professor Son. This made the boy extremely happy and curious at the same time. By the end of the lesson, Hakyeon handed him a letter which stated that they all should go to a restaurant. Seonghwa knew it meant the merged team. He had way too much thing to do with them: reconcile with Wonshik, thank San and Wooyoung, explain himself to San and Wooyoung and probably catch up to all the stuff he’s been missing for these weeks.

That was how he got to know Minghao’s girlfriend made herself a tattoo without the boy knowing, but according to him it was the dopest, sexiest and most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Apparently, Dino and Jeongin teamed up in a new game where they immediately became number one and two, and week by week they changed their ranking – one week Jeongin was the first, the other Dino. Hakyeon ranted about some kid who made him cards and drawings every day for a week then changed her “love” to another kindergarten teacher. Taekwoon didn’t have much to say, but that was how he was almost every time they met. Although sometimes they would share a nice conversation about books, unsolved murders and the military. Since it was still mandatory for everyone, the boys wanted to know what was waiting for them, or gain some tips on how to survive it. Wooyoung and San told everyone what an amazing place they have found when they were wandering around in one of their dates. It was some kind of a paintball arena, but with much more upgraded items, levels and stages than what everyone knew. Wonwoo and Seonghwa didn’t have much to say, since they didn’t want to talk about what happened. Just like Wonshik. The always babbling boy was quite quiet for the first time ever since they started to hang out.

Seonghwa had a feeling someone was watching him. More like, as if someone was inside his brain. When the chills ran up and down his spine, he immediately turned towards Wonshik since he could be the only one who would mess with him after all he had done. But when he looked at the boy, he was somewhere else. His eyes showed a certain type of pain which kept its owner in the present but partially in the past. He tried to concentrate on the source of this unknown attention, whether it was from his own circle or someone else in the restaurant. The dark-haired male expected some over curious Alpha to be trying to mess with his thoughts, but to his biggest surprise San was staring into him. The boy seemed to him as if he was dying to talk to him. To ask or say something, but didn’t know how to initiate. After staring into each other’s eyes for a few minutes, Seonghwa got annoyed. He hated when someone stared at him for too long. There wasn’t anything on him worth looking at.

“What do you want Diego?” – Seonghwa was the first one to talk. His voice surprised not only San, but everyone else at their table.

“What?” – the question could be heard from several people.

“He’s San. Why would you call him Diego?” – Wooyoung asked calmly and Seonghwa showed him a smile. But as soon as Wonwoo saw the smile he knew poor San was about to be roasted. It was his sarcastic smile.

“’Cause he’s San. San Diego.” – his remark was followed by numerous laughs, a very confused Wooyung and a furious San.

“What did you just say?” – asked San.

“Look Diego, I didn’t mean to hurt you. But now, that I look at you from another angle you kind of remind me of someone. But who is it?” – he pretended to think for an annoyingly long minute then the small lightbulb could be almost seen above his head like in cartoons. – “I know. You’re Diego. _Dora the explorer’s_ cousin. Qué pasa, Diego?”

“You fucking…” – San wasn’t able to finish his sentence thanks to Wooyoung who held his hand to calm his boyfriend down. It was effective. Until he saw Seonghwa’s winner smile. – “Well, at least I’m a human being, you… you… Martian!”

“Wow, what a unique remark. Thank God I wasn’t drinking, otherwise I would’ve spit everything out. But let me tell you something. While you’re just a boy, who originally was a side character, I, in every possible variation, am out of this world. By weirdness, maybe. But both on an intellectual and aesthetic level, I’m outta this world.”

“I hate you, you annoying Martian Beta!”

“Yo también, Diego. Me too.” – then San ran out of the restaurant furiously, followed by a concerned Wooyoung. Who was trying his best to not show how much he was laughing on the inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't speak Spanish tho, I asked one of my friends so I hope it's accurate😅
> 
> ((for those who don't know Spanish like me, here are the meanings:  
> Qué pasa, Diego = What's up Diego  
> Yo también, Diego = Me too, Diego  
> at least I hope so lol))


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone~ Sorry for the long wait, I just had some things piled up in the past two weeks and I didn't have time to write:( and even though I finally made some time to write, I feel this chapter is not the best, I could have write it in a better way, but hopefully the upcoming chapters will compensate this clumsy part.

_Park Seonghwa’s really an asshole_. San couldn’t get this thought out of his mind as he rushed out of the restaurant, followed by his partner. He was extremely upset with the Beta’s behavior. He did nothing wrong, during those days he was absent from school, San almost thought about him 24/7. He cared about the reason he was away; he was ready to risk his friendship with a much more valuable person than Seonghwa and what he received in the end? An attitude full of rudeness and sarcasm. In between the rage-explosions in his head, his mind wandered to a little path filled with concerns such as “what if we’re only able to talk in sarcasm and continual bickering? I don’t want our relationship to be filled with only this material.”. Then San was quick to kick his thoughts back to path of rage.

“San, wait a minute.” – Wooyoung called out for him, trying to calm him down with his presence. – “I know you hate Seonghwa hyung right now, but please understand him. I know nothing about him, neither you do. But remember that you also had a phase when you couldn’t handle your emotions or anything what was inside you. Maybe he’s going through the same.”

“Yeah, but I was sixteen at that time, and he’s already twenty-three. He’s an adult, he shouldn’t pick up an attitude right now.”

“And you never thought about what if he’s still in that phase? Like, it started at the age of sixteen and never had the chance to step out of it. Maybe all he needs is time, or understanding from everyone.”

“Wooyoung, he messed with my best friend.” – San looked deeply in the youngest’ eyes, in hopes he would understand why he was upset.

“No, your best friend messed with him. And…” – they couldn’t finish their conversation because the heard steps coming from the exit. They saw Seonghwa’s slender figure approaching them, but without waiting for an explanation or anything, San went to his car and get in. He wasn’t willing to listen to any bullshit coming out of his mouth. He had enough. Though, he himself, couldn’t be able to tell why and what he had enough of. He barely talked with the older boy, nor had anything in common. True, their groups shouldn’t be considered as two separate groups, but one now, but this gave zero reason for the two of them to get along. Just like how Wonshik and Seonghwa ended up. Why should he get himself involved in those people’s lives who he didn’t care about?

When he looked at the rear-view mirror, he got curious. As he saw it, Seonghwa was talking about something pretty fast and maybe in a remorseful way, while his lover stood there, nodding, petting the other’s arm and even speaking sometimes. This whole situation made San interested, since there weren’t many occasions when Wooyoung stayed silent and didn’t interrupt the other party he was talking to. Likewise, San turned on his hearing.

“Look Wooyoung, I’m sorry. For everything. How I always behave with San. I know I shouldn’t be telling you this, but to him. But I just don’t know how to talk to San. Not because he’s scary or intimidating, I’ve met much worse Alphas than him, but more like because it seems to me that we don’t know how to get on the same wavelength. You know how there are those stupid sayings such as ‘they are like water and fire’, and I definitely feel it is true for us. Even if I decide in myself that I’m going to treat him better, as _a friend_ , I just can’t bring myself to it. Maybe, he reminds me so much of who my parents wanted me to be… Wait, did I say that out loud?”

“Yeah, you did. But I don’t understand why you feel like that. You’re an amazing person, Hyung.” – Wooyoung tried to comfort him, but non of his attempts were successful.

“But a Beta.” – to this the blonde boy really had no clue what to say, how to react, how to touch his heart to feel less bad. Sadly, there was no solution what could make Seonghwa feel at ease. So they stood there for minutes, without speaking a single word, only their breathing was audible to San.

“San’s not a bad person. You have your own demons, just like everyone else. Even San too. He’s a spoiled brat probably a bit stuck-up too, but when you get to know him, he’s more like and angel than a devil. Maybe not the best and nicest angel the Heavens ever had, but maybe similar to Stitch. You know, the blue little alien from Lilo and Stitch.”

“Well, the similarity in their heights are quite accurate, if I think about it.” – this remark made Wooyoung laugh and San roll his eyes.

“Good, just please don’t mention it to him. He can bite when someone mocks him for his height.”

“Understood. Everything you said. I know I shouldn’t be making excuses for my behavior, and I will try to be nicer to him, for everyone’s sake but it will be hard. Not only because he’s probably a version of me who I’ll never be, but he reminds me so much of those people who belittled me. Not that it hurts me anymore, but I prefer to keep my three-step distance from them. To prevent any, let’s say undesirable situation. But all in all, I know he’s not a bad person. I mean, you’re with him. And you’re and angel. I truly believe you wouldn’t be with him if he didn’t love you enough or wouldn’t be a person worth of your love.”

“I feel like you have to explain yourself for one more person.” – Wooyoung replied, since he didn’t know what to do with all the compliments, he received from his hyung. Indeed, he was used to all sort of fluttering word, but those were mostly for his looks. The ones focusing on his personality came from San only. And now, that someone else made a comment about it, made the always confident Wooyoung a bit shy. So instead of saying thanks he warned the Beta about a storm what was slowly getting closer.

“What do you mean by that?” – the omega didn’t reply, just pointed behind Seonghwa, right where Wonshik was standing. With a single look the boys said their goodbyes and both of them went of to their own way. Wooyoung to San, Seonghwa to Wonshik. The youngest of the four was sure that when he gets in the car, San would automatically start the engine and leave as fast as possible, but his prediction didn’t happen. They stayed there, San looking tensely into his mirror. He looked nervous but also ready to run towards their friends, if it was necessary. Hence, Wooyoung was sure, San had his hearing on.

“Wonshik hyung.”

“Park Seonghwa”. – awkwardness. This was the only word anyone could describe the situation the boys were in. Both of them wanted to say oh-so many things to the other. At first Wonshik thought he was about to throw shameful and miserable things at the other’s face, but he changed his mind. As he stood there, he could clearly see regret in the younger’s eyes. Just like how he could feel himself regret everything he had done to him. Both of them felt they couldn’t be best friends anymore, but giving it a try was worth it. For Hakyeon’s sake. – “I’m sorry for trying to force you into things you were uncomfortable with.”

“Same goes for me. I’m sorry for saying those… things and probably mixing up bottled feelings you had inside yourself and I had zero right to access to it.” – both of them nodded in agreement, as a symbol of accepting the apology without telling further excuses they didn’t want to share with each other. Not because they didn’t want the other know, but because it was hard to talk about it to an almost stranger.

“Should we start all over again? For Hakyeon.” – Wonshik offered.

“For Hakyeon.” – Seonghwa nodded as he accepted the offer. – “I’m Park Seonghwa.”

“I’m Kim Wonshik.” – they shook their hands as another sign of them reconciling.

San watched his friends head back to the restaurant. They were silent, but San could notice how their heartbeats were now regular. They weren’t nervous, afraid of each other but accepted the situation they were in and for the bigger and common goal, they put their prides, scars and opinions aside. Both guys are strong in their own ways, however San was still a little bit angry at Seonghwa for acting the way he acted. Then a sudden thought crossed his mind. Many of their schoolmates stated Seonghwa was a cold prince, but not the nice kind, like Elsa or Jack Frost, but a ruder one. But what they never saw was how Seonghwa _really_ treated others. Maybe he was waiting for someone to melt his armor, to break down the ice. But what was behind the ice? If the ice were the only barrier, San would be disappointed. He didn’t think a complicated person, just like Seonghwa only protected himself from outsiders with several layers of ice. Instead he imagined behind the ice castle, there were walls. Walls waiting for being demolished. As he was driving his car through the railway, listening to a song called _Baby Baby_ from Winner, he knew that the boy needed a hand. Seonghwa already had lots of hands supporting him, but maybe he needed more push to break all his own walls down. In order to do that he need constant support, what he was about to give to him. He wanted to be Seonghwa’s friend. He didn’t want Seonghwa to feel alone, to be someone who would sing the lines _“I’m lost on the bed SOS/I’ve sent so many what’s up texts/Crouching in, I feel like I’m becoming so little/This silence is louder/than noises in the world shut up”_.

“What are you thinking about?” – Wooyoung touched his knee at one of the red lights.

“About how hard it could be to buy a bulldozer.”

“I don’t know. But make sure, that enough people can fit in when we’re ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“For crushing down Seonghwa hyung’s walls.”

“I will make sure. I won’t let you sit in that thing like Miley, tho. Knowing you, you would be screaming the whole time. And we want to pull him out of his cage, not push him further into.”

“I will close my eyes over this remark of yours, since it was slightly hurting. But, for Hwa hyung, I am willing to do it.”


	14. Chapter 14

He couldn’t remember when was the last time, only the two of them went somewhere. He has always been the happiest when the older male offered him to go somewhere. Just the two of them. No one should misunderstand him, he loved his friends more than anything. Before university, he had other friends but it was hard for the boy to keep them. Most of them either turned their backs on him for being a Beta or used him for being a Beta. They manipulated and took advantages of him by saying the “magical words” – _We’re not going to be friends with you anymore_. It hurt him every time someone he thought of as a close friend told him such mean words. That was why he was so happy to find a person who was a Beta also. Who knew what it meant to be surrounded by Alphas and Omegas and feel they were the littlest thing which ever existed on the planet. However, he soon had to realize that the boy was different from him, in many aspects. They didn’t share the same thoughts, they coped with people differently, their interests sometimes overlapped but sometimes they were crossing totally different paths. But after getting over with these kinds of opposites in his own head he started to see the Beta as his role-model. Someone he could gain motivation from. He started to admire him, every single movement and word coming from him were like holy doings to the young boy. Thanks to his muse, he learned Alphas and Omegas weren’t bad people, at all. He just happened to be in the wrong circle of people in his previous schools. After requiring two other amazing friends and becoming a family-like group he had the chance to belong to another group too. Soon, he realized that the two separate groups became one. There wasn’t this circle or that circle but our circle. He never belonged to somewhere he felt like home, where no one misused him just because he was a Beta, where others would treat him as an equal, but his time has come. He belonged to a place where his friends accepted him, where he could be himself without limiting himself to someone he wasn’t. Where he didn’t need to be afraid of losing fake friendships, because his friendships were finally real. And it was all thanks to Park Seonghwa. Jeongin didn’t know when he started to like him instead of admiring him, but it happened. He was scared what happened to him when he first didn’t show up at school, then for the remaining weeks too. He found himself thinking and daydreaming about him. He wanted to hold his hand, wanted him to embrace Jeongin in a tight hug where no one else would exist, just the two of them. He wanted to go on dates with him, cuddle him, pamper him with kisses do all sorts of things lovers do. At first, he denied his feelings, these were just hallucinations since Seonghwa was his role-model, it wasn’t anything more. But then, when he looked at the boy’s smile, handsome face, slender body and the gentle way he looked at Jeongin, the younger Beta knew it definitely was a crush – at the minimum. So the times they spent together were precious to Jeongin.

That was why he was so excited when his hyung said yes to go with him to a gaming event which was held during Kita World, a gathering for people who loved anime, cosplay, gaming, Kpop groups and everything else related to this topic. Jeongin applied for a gaming contest beforehand and when he told this to Seonghwa, he asked if the Jeongin needed any help or support for the contest. He then asked, if Seonghwa wanted to be his supporter. He replied with an oh-so lovely smile and a meaningful yes.

The event was held from Friday to Sunday, Jeongin’s competition was on the last day, a big finale before the ending concert. Jeongin offered the ridiculous idea of them doing a cosplay which was first a matter of laugh but after a few minutes when the boys were thinking about the outcome, they agreed on dressing up. At first, they thought about doing gamer concept, choosing typical outfits from some of their favorite games, however after they consulted with Hakyeon, Wonwoo and Chungha too they decided on doing a random selection. All of them wrote characters’ names on paper which they threw in a box, mixed it then both the boys chose their own. Seonghwa was the first one to pick a paper.

“No. There’s no way I’m doing it.” – Seonghwa threw the paper at the table with a rather angry look. On the paper he could read “ _Sebastian Michaelis_ ” with two little stars on it, meaning it wasn’t a hard character to bring to life. – “Who did it to me?”

“If Jeongin chooses Ciel, I can die happily.” – Chungha murmured so quiet only Wonwoo could hear. – “Sadly, we made a pact. You pick a paper, you cannot change it, sorry.”

“But going there in this outfit would mean I’m an attention seeker and – “

“And you’re not one?” – the girl gasped in a joking way, Seonghwa awarded her with an eyeroll. – “Never mind, there’s no turning back. Jeongin, go ahead.”

“But I’m scared now. What if I have to dress up as a girl?” – the boy asked with a surprised look on his face.

“Don’t worry, there aren’t any female characters. Only male characters, who may occasionally dress up as girls.” – Chungha said to ease and to tease the poor boy.

“Noona!” – Jeongin shouted, but he had no choice. He mixed the remaining papers again, then picked one. On the paper the name _Kanato_ was written. – “Kanato? Who’s he?”

“YES. Oh my God, YES. Thank you to all the deities!” – the Omega girl started to jump and clap out of happiness, which clearly meant something terrible for the boy. She quickly grabbed her phone, typed the name in and showed a lilac-haired boy’s picture to everyone. The four boys looked at each other with confused looks. – “He’s a really cute character although he’s also little bit a psycho, but I knew Jeongin would rock it, that’s why I wrote it.”

“So it’s from an anime?” – asked Hakyeon in order to get information on what was about to happen to their dongsaeng.

“Yes, it’s called Diabolik Lovers. It’s full of vampires. Sexy vampires.” – the girl’s eyes were glowing out of excitement.

“Sexy vampires…” – the four of them tried to digest what they just heard but when the information finally clicked in their heads, they had different reactions. Seonghwa started to go through the papers to see the other options and demanded a reselection, Jeongin went on full-panic mode because how would other competitors would look at him if he went to Kita World like that, Hakyeon tried to come up with a solution that would be convenient for everyone Meanwhile Wonwoo was staring at the girl, his mind going from _“who did I mated with??”_ to _“I want to marry this girl as soon as possible”._

“Do I need to dye my hair too?” – was the question Jeongin asked sarcastically. At least, he tried to be sarcastic. Too bad he was too pure to this world, so something fired up within his friends, that was why they were heading to the city center to buy him lilac, and to Seonghwa the darkest black hair dye.

Sunday came, and Jeongin looked into the mirror. He had gradient lilac hair, matching the eyeshadow Chungha put on him. Since they didn’t have time to buy the exact cosplay, nor had the talent to sew one, they tried to match Kanato’s style with their clothes. That was how he searched his whole house for his old teddy bear, put on a white shirt with a burgundy-ish vest with black jeans rolled up until his knees. Wonwoo’s mate brought him black knee socks to put on with a stylish black jacket which more or less fitted him. It was a little bit short for him, but still okay. On the other hand, Seonghwa had a bit easier thing to do. He put on his black suit with black-white striped shirt and a black necktie. Chungha styled his newly dyed fresh black hair, put on really light foundation and powder all over his face, then attached some stylish chains to the boy’s suit. The cherry on the top was the white leather gloves, which gave the boy the look every fangirl desired. When Jeongin first saw the boy in that outfit, he felt his heart pounding a bit faster.

“Now stand next to each other, I need to take a picture of this.” – the girl quickly took a picture of them.

“You won’t post it anywhere, right?” – Seonghwa asked cautiously.

“You’re late, I already did.”

“It’s not a violation of my rights?”

“Nah, you already signed the contract.” – Wonwoo said with a smirk on his face.

“When and what contract?”

“That she can do anything with you. And when? Probably when I fell in love with her.” – they were a bit lovey-dovey, but Seonghwa was extremely happy for them. That they found and have each other.

After the big makeover, the boys headed to the event where they arrived around ten o’clock. They stood in the line for about an hour, then decided to roam around the event. They bought some limited-edition magazines and mangas. Jeongin found himself a really cool T-shirt with one of his favourite character on it.

“Who’s this?” – Seonghwa asked his friend.

“He’s Tanjirou from Kimetsu no Yaiba. You know, the anime I told you about. Where there are lots of demons, demon killers and drama.”

“He’s the one who has a girlfriend with a bamboo in her mouth?”

“Hyung, it’s his sister. Sister!” – Jeongin rolled his eyes.

“Then sister, whatever. I would like a size L.”

“That’s not even your size.” – Jeongin was confused as why would the older want to buy a shirt with something he didn’t even like on it.

“Yeah. But yours it is.” – he said, then payed for the shirt and handed it to the boy. Jeongin immediately knew he was going to cherish this shirt for the rest of his life.

The boys tried out several stands with VR, soon-to-be-launched video games, anime teasers and even went for a smaller cinema, where they were projecting My Neighbor Totoro. Seonghwa loved Ghibli movies, he was growing up with two girls, therefore he would watch them all day long, go to sleep then watch them all over again. He was grateful for watching those movies instead of Barbie ones, he couldn’t imagine how he would have turned out if his sister would insisted on those. Seonghwa, being the older one between the two, bought them some snacks to eat – two packs of pepero, popcorn, a bottle of mugicha for himself and a bottle of coke for Jeongin. When the latter wanted to pay him for all the stuff he just pushed away his hands.

“Hyung, don’t do this to me. I can’t let you pay for everything.” – although Jeongin was happier than ever for having all kinds of memories with Seonghwa, he felt bad about letting the older Beta pay for everything.

“Jeongin-ah, I can do whatever I want to. I’ve neglected you, Hakyeon and everyone, and I would like to compensate for that. At least do something for you, because I’m sure Hyung would kill then lecture me about life and how he’s the irresponsible one, so I won’t push it with him, but with you. You’re an important friend for me, who I cherish a lot, so shut up, eat your Oreo pepero and watch the movie.” – the older pulled him for a warm but rare hug. Jeongin immediately hugged him back, feeling his own heart beating a lot faster than it was supposed to be. He could even see some girls smiling way too much at them, but he ignored their presence, because it was only the two of them for him.

After My Neighbor Totoro was over, they headed to the medium-sized stadium where Jeongin’s game was held. The lilac-haired boy registered for the event, got himself a number which was 88. Seonghwa went ahead and looked for their computer and put all their stuff around them so it would be like a copy of his friend’s room. He even put some figures around the computer that might bring the male lots of luck. Jeongin arrived to their table with a worried look on his face.

“What’s the matter?” – Seonghwa asked as he made the boy sit down.

“I know some guys here from online games. they’re good. No, they’re great. No, they’re professionals. Hyung, I’m going to lose!” – Jeongin’s speaking tempo was somewhat similar to Eminem’s rap, at least in Seonghwa’s mind. He was sure he needed to somehow calm the boy down, else he would really lose and that would obviously leave an enormous scar on the younger’s gamer pride.

“Why would you need to win? You’re already a champion. You get to spend a day with me, got a T-shirt and food from me, we even watched a Ghibli film together. What else do you need? And why? Please, Jeongin. Everyone here wants to beat you, because you have me.”

“Hyung, this really doesn’t suit you.”

“I know! But uh, I didn’t have anything better in my mind for a moment. Look, you came here to play, not to win, right? All your gaming career has been about you being the best, because you’re a smart and kind of strategic guy. Think about that this place is your room, you don’t see other participants’ faces, just their character and name. Sometimes you lose at home too. And like you know, there’s nothing to lose. If you win, then you win. If you lose, then you go home with amazing memories. You can’t break down just because you can sense some asshole Alpha’s ‘I’m the best, you’re just extras here, nothing else’ scent, but this shouldn’t push you down. It should pull you up! Give your best and show that moron what someone, a Beta like you is capable of!”

“Understand. Thank you so much Hyung.”

“You’re welcome. Now show me, who did you get.” – they opened the envelope which contained Jeongin’s character, weapons and creature partner. Jeongin got himself a peasant-like boy whose traits were hiding and running fast. His combat skills were relatively low, if he had more time to play he would be able to train and level him up, but in three hours it seemed impossible. The weapons he got weren’t that bad, but weren’t that good either. It was a sword and bow with arrows. Jeongin felt he could survive for at least one and half an hour but with a beetle bug as his companion, he had almost no chances of surviving.

“I’m ruined.” – said the boy sadly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who didn't write for a month, then starts writing again and manages to write a chapter too damn long? Me:) 
> 
> I'm back, I guess, so you can except chapters coming regularly again! I'm sorry for the delay and for not posting, but now I hope I can handle writing and my life together, lol.


	15. Chapter 15

“I’m ruined.”

“Jeongin, shut up. You’re not ruined at all.”

“Hyung look at this… thing.” – Jeongin really felt he could cry out of frustration.

“I think it’s cute. It has the same color as your hair, Chungha choose a good character.”

“This doesn’t really ease anything inside me.”

“Okay look, everything’s about to start. The details say you’re good at hiding, which means you will probably survive since all you need to do is turn into a chameleon. And about George, the beetle bug keep him. Most of the players here would sacrifice him the first chance they get, but you try and fight on your on as long as you can. I’m sure there’s a twist with this little fellow here. Good luck, Jeongin-ah.” – Seonghwa patted the boy on his shoulder then left the battlefield and found himself a seat where he could monitor the fight precisely.

The timer was turned on with a loud beep sound, so the gamer had 2 hours, 59 minutes and 50 seconds to fight for their virtual lives. There were typical ambitious people who started to run as soon as the game started but since this was the newest, still not on the market version of the game they didn’t know what to expect. These people found themselves dead within a minute or so, since the game featured several hidden monsters, traps, portals and battles against each other. One wrong move and you could be fighting with your best friend, be eaten by a monster, sucked by a portal to another dimension or fell into a pond where mermaids had a feast on you. Seeing the fall of their fellow mates, others decided to go slowly and with a well-established mindset that probably wouldn’t take them to failure the moment they take off. The lilac-haired boy played just as Seonghwa advised him. He hid himself behind bigger characters, stones, rocks, animals, trees and every possible item that was slightly bigger than him. Throughout the game, the little beetle bug came quite handy because it sometimes helped choosing the right way, who to team up with and who to avoid at all cost. Obviously, it couldn’t read other contestants’ minds, but it knew the algorithm of some characters alongside their weak spots. The ultimate impossible happened to Jeongin – after 2 and half an hour of life-death play he was amongst the best three. The other two players decided to team up against him and started to attack him with every possible means. The poor boy barely had any lives left, so he decided to use George, the beetle bug against them. He threw the bug in the battlefield to fight against the other two’s wolf and giant made out of rocks. After a few minutes, the beetle was about to lose not only the battle, but also its life. That was when Jeongin couldn’t bare it anymore so he jumped into the battle of the monsters and tried to protect his companion. The moment the boy took a particularly strong hit in, the game started to vibrate. Everyone thought it got ruined somehow, but the truth was different. George the beetle bug had a hidden speciality. That speciality was loyalty. In case its owner stayed loyal to him and treated him like a partner instead of a tool, he became extremely strong. The bug not only changed forms for a beetle bug to a deep purple steel dragon but it turned out it was the final boss too. The creators were curious whether someone would be able to tame something like that or give it up the first possible time. Since Jeongin waited, his character got levelled up, the strongest of all with the final boss on his side. The battle went on for another ten minutes, the other two gamers didn’t want to give up the fight that easily, but in the end they lost. As soon as Jeongin won he ran over to Seonghwa and jumped on him to hug the hell and excitement out of him. Meanwhile everyone in the arena was either shocked and remained silent to progress what they’ve just witnessed or gave the boy a standing ovation. Seonghwa was quick to congratulate the boy but also push him towards the stage where he could receive his award. At the end of the day the boys left with the newest game controller set, the previously played game’s full version with several limited-edition extras, gift certificates and an external hard drive. Besides this every participant received a goodie bag with food, snack and official merch of the game and Kita World.

“So, George turned out as a dragon. Cool. And you were about to bawl your eyes out.” – Seonghwa tried to annoy Jeongin, but nothing could break the boy’s smile from his face.

“I know! Isn’t he the coolest? And look at these babies! They’re wonderful. I can’t wait to try them out. We definitely need to try it out. Oh yeah, and I must invite Dino too, he will be amazed and so proud of me.” – the boy’s eyes were shining as brightly as a star on its peak.

“Everybody is already proud of you, my dear friend. But to celebrate your win, want to have dinner with me? Or I’m not qualified enough to sit together with someone great like you?”

“Believe me hyung, if there’s someone who will always be qualified to eat with me, that’s gotta be you.”

“Good answer. Just don’t mention it to Hakyeon hyung, else he will get really mad that his baby chose me over him.”

“I will keep that in mind.” – with that said they left the place of the event to look for a reasonable-priced restaurant. They soon found one where they decided to go for kimchi jjigae and grilled beef. Jeongin tried to talk Seonghwa down from the meat but the older Beta insisted on having it. They had a fun time talking about all sorts of things. How others at the university were, sometimes annoying sometimes amusing, sometimes neutral as if they weren’t there at all. They discussed all the stuff that happened to them that day, the games, the new animes, the merch stands, the cosplayers and even how they came to like their own costumes and after all, Jeongin begun to like his hair color because it now reminded him of George, the beetle bug. – “Oh yeah, hyung. Why did you name it George?”

“Isn’t it obvious? It was a beetle bug. A beetle. The Beatles. George Harrison. A genius.”

“If you say so.”

“Ya, Yang Jeongin don’t tell me you don’t know who The Beatles are!”

“I know they were great British musicians but nothing more. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song from them.”

“And you had to live like this so far. I’m sorry my friend, I wasn’t aware of this. From now on, I take on the duty of educating you about their career and music. May I interest you in my favorite playlist?”

“Of course.” – Seonghwa took his phone out and clicked on his favorite playlist. Jeongin didn’t exactly liked the songs, but he didn’t want to share it with Seonghwa since the boy was obviously really into the songs. Almost as if his mind was somewhere else. However, the younger Beta felt the need to stop the music after a particular song. It was Nowhere Man. He could understand the lyrics since it had a translation there. This was the reason he gathered the courage to ask the boy about it. _“He's a real nowhere man/Sitting in his nowhere land/Making all his nowhere plans for nobody”_ – “Hyung, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“When you went missing for a few days…”

“I didn’t go missing. Wonwoo knew where I was, likewise I was absent.”

“Okay, then when you were absent. What happened to you? What is the thing Wonwoo hyung can know about but me and Haekyeon hyung cannot?”

“It’s a long story Jeongin and I don’t want to bother you with it.”

“But I want to be bothered.”

“Fine, but it’s going to be a long story short, understood? I had a friend, Hyunmin. He was one of the greatest people alive. He was an average Omega who everyone liked. Not the “I have a crush on him” type, but the “he has a big heart, he helps everyone, he’s just so selfless” type. I always adored him. Hyunmin wanted to give his everything to everyone, since it wasn’t possible for him. His mother passed away when he was born, the doctors did something wrong what made the woman die a few days after his birth. Ever since then his father hated him for taking his mate’s life away. He had to grow up in an abusive home, his father couldn’t forgive him. Even on his funeral he was furious to bury Hyunmin next to his mother. To sum up, he suffered a lot. He got beaten up for every mistake he made. Didn’t receive full A’s he was beaten. Didn’t prepare something in time, he was beaten. He went somewhere his father didn’t like; he was beaten. So, basically he was beaten for existing. One day I offered him to stay at my place instead of theirs, because what was going on with him wasn’t normal. Then his father came to take him home and beat him so much he couldn’t come to school for two or three weeks. Then when he finally came, we decided to hang around the city. Eat at our favorite restaurant, drink whatever we wanted played until late at night. That day he gave me so much of his belongings. You know, like his favorite hoodie, game controller, figurines and drawings. Jeongin believe me, he was a wonderful artist, he was capable of so much. Then the next day I went to his house to go to school together. His father told me he didn’t hear a sound from his room all night, maybe _“that brat ran away”._ That was when I went to his room to check up on him and… saw him hanging from the ceiling. I don’t remember much from that point on, since I fainted. The other part of the story is what probably you’re also aware of. How I’m a Beta and my parents don’t exactly fancy my existence. My mother once slapped me during a fight and… I got scared. That my parents would turn out as Hyunmin’s father and they would treat me the same way. So I ran away from home, Hyojung and Somin have already searched the whole city for me when they found out I bought a plane ticket to Jeju Island. I don’t know why I wanted to go there, it seemed a nice idea, we always liked it with Hyunmin. Then obviously, my family made me understood that they will never hurt me. At least this was what my sisters meant. My parents meant physically, because ever since then they’ve been hurting me emotionally, even if it’s unintentional. So like, you know… Since Hyunmin passed death and afterlife has been my biggest fear.”

“I’m so so so sorry, hyung.” – Jeongin didn’t know what to say. Most people didn’t know how to react in a situation like this. They sat there for minutes without saying anything or touching the food even though it looked perfect to eat. Jeongin tried to gather something acceptable in his mind to tell his hyung. Some comforting words.

“You know, I still blame myself sometimes. Maybe if I didn’t invite him to live with us, maybe he would still be alive, maybe not. Or that I should’ve helped him more, in a different way. I didn’t know how at that time, and I still don’t know. I still have all his belongings and… you know I’m afraid of what might happen. That I might got run over by a bus, I might kill myself, someone else might murder me or a piano could fall on me and that’s why I have letters. You know, saying goodbye. Saying all the things in my mind what I could never tell to anyone. To my parents, to my sister, to Wonwoo and to my friends.”

“Do you have one for me, too?” – Jeongin really didn’t have a clue what to ask the boy. He was sorry, but saying sorry felt like the worst thing to say.

“Of course.”

“What did you write for me?”

“I won’t tell you. You will know when I die.”

“Then I don’t want to know!” – another silent minutes occurred between them. Seonghwa was the first one to speak again.

“Jeongin-ah, what do you think about letters?”

“Goodbye letters?”

“No, no. Letters in general. Like ones saying sorry, confessing love, etc.” – despite everything he heard, a small blush crawled on his face at the mention of confession letter.

“I think they’re beautiful. If it’s possible I’d like to receive one. I mean, it means the person who wrote it to me thought a lot about me.”

“I see, thank you Jeongin. For everything. And sorry, for everything. I know it’s a hard topic to digest, it is hard for me too. I still can’t explain everything I have in my mind, but I think my destructive thought originated from loosing Hyunmin. Or more like not being able to help him. I know it can’t be an excuse for the rest of my life, but it is so hard to let it go.”

“I understand it hyung. And, if you need any help, I, Wonwoo hyung and Hakyeon hyung, we are here.”

“I know.”

_“Dear San,_

_I bet you never imagined receiving a letter. Or you might have already got one from your fan club, but whatever. This one’s going to be different, hopefully. I hope you will stay with me until the end of my letter even if you hate me. Or don’t hate me. Actually, I, myself, not sure what kind of relationship we have._

_So, I am pretty bad at telling my feelings and thoughts to people I feel uneasy about. First of all, I really want this uneasiness to go away because according to Wooyoung we could be great friends. So far this seems like a joke, isn’t it? Secondly, I am sorry for my behavior. I have a whole war going on in my mind and because of that I sometimes don’t know how to deal with people in general, let them be Alphas or Omegas. I’m a little bit better with Betas. Anyways, I really hope you can forgive me if I was rude with you, I will try to be nicer._

_However, I feel the need to explain myself a little. You know, I’m a really… traumatized person. I’m sure you also had your traumas through your life, but I still don’t seem to close them soon. So yeah, I’m someone who needs help but isn’t willing to accept it from a professional or something. I don’t know if you can understand how it feels to live your life as a lowly Beta, who’s good for nothing and is only here to steal the Oxygen from others. I don’t ask you to fully accept this, but try to cope with me who had to listen to these kind of things for years now. Also, remember that night at the riverside? When I wasn’t at a really, uhm, acceptable state of mind. And that I said I’ve got everything planned in case I pass away or something? I didn’t want to remind you of all those stuffs, I just wanted you to know that it’s true and if anything happens to me, I don’t want you to have bad memories about me. I would like to reconcile with you, but I don’t know the method. I really-really would like to be your friend. Maybe we don’t have much in common right now, but later we might realize that we’re like, you know, the moon and the sun. We somehow might complement each other. But this is NOT A CONFESSION!! This is me saying we could be good friends._

_Okay, I don’t even know where I wanted to go with this whole letter, so I better finish it now. All in all, I really hope you will forgive me for being an asshole._

_Please consider my application for the position of your friend. Maybe we can be assholes together._

_Let’s be friends, San Diego! (See what I did there? You’re not that extra guy anymore, but a beautiful city, you’re welcome.)_

_Yours sincerely,_

_A Martian, a.k.a. Park Seonghwa”_

San carefully read the letter he found in his bag. He indeed expected a love letter, but reality hit him like a bulldozer. His feelings were mixed, his brain started to malfunction, he was as confused as he never been before. He felt Park Seonghwa’s letter had sincerity in it, with some sarcasm or implied humor to hide the pain behind it. Thinking about all the hardships Seonghwa had to go through made his heart ache. He wanted to heal his heart. He wanted to be Park Seonghwa’s friend, but a little part of him didn’t want to be friends with him. And he didn’t understand why. Until he read the word “together”, again and again and once again.

That was the moment when San realized he might, eventually, fell for Park Seonghwa.


	16. Chapter 16

He was nervous. But also thrilled. The step he was about to take meant a lot for him. Finally finding something in the grand search of the meaning of his life. Deciding on where to go, what course to take wasn’t a big deal for many students, but there was a huge number of students who had several problems with choosing what they wanted to do, what kind of profession they wanted to do until the rest of their lives. It’s not like one couldn’t change their majors through out the university years, but people still observed changing people with shame. That was why Seonghwa’s heart was beating faster than ever. He experienced such a pace when something serious occurred in his life, but this one was finally different. He didn’t have to be sad or depressed after stepping into his classroom. However, right before he could head to his very first lesson, he heard fast steps behind him which got more and more closer, when someone grabbed his shoulder.

“Park Seonghwa. We must talk.” – it was San. Seonghwa had tons of emotions within him at that moment and he had to remind himself that in his letter he promised the boy he won’t be rude to him so he just held back saying ‘ _it’s Park Seonghwa hyung for you’_. There was fifteen minutes before the bell ring. He really wanted to talk with San, just to make sure they were okay, but he also wanted to barge into the classroom and show everyone he finally found himself.

“It’s not the best time. Class is about to start.”

“Yeah, but you can always go to class, that’s what university is for.”

“Yeah, but never have I ever skipped my first class from a subject and I don’t plan on doing so.”

“What do you mean? It’s like the middle of the semester, we already had our first classes from everything.” – San was obviously confused. Of course, he didn’t know about how Seonghwa finally made a choice, he never mentioned to the boy.

“Yeah, but as you may know, I was on General studies for way too long and after things happened, I decided where to go.”

“Oh…” – San was ashamed that he didn’t know about this. They weren’t best friend, of course, but it still hurt him how much he wasn’t part of the boy’s life. _‘But why would I be a part of it, we barely know each other for 3 months or so.’_ – thought San. – “Then it must be a big day for you.”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Then, we will talk later. Please promise me.”

“Definitely.”

“Okay, then bye Seonghwa.” – San was about to leave when something ultimately stupid popped to his mind. He turned back to the older boy, looked at his eyes and patted his shoulder. – “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.” – as he stared at the older’s confused face he only just realized that his hair was really dark black. He became curious as why would someone like him dye his hair, but the situation started to get awkward so he just excused himself and quickly left.

The departure of San left Seonghwa all alone with his concerns. Whether he would be able to fit in, find someone he could sit next to or make friends. He then started to worry about how the already professional-like Origin researchers would treat him. He tried to shoo away all his negative and destructive thoughts, then took a deep breath and stepped into the classroom. He was aware of the fact that this major was the least popular but everything was beyond his imagination. In a classroom suitable for 30 students or more, there were approximately 10 students and he might have said a way too big number. Some people scanned the boy when he started to head off to a seat, others remained doing whatever they were doing. After finding a perfect place in the third row he waited for the teacher to arrive. Four minutes before the beginning of the class he heard that someone slammed the door open. Despite this opening being a rather eye-catching one, he seemed to be the only one to turn towards the direction of the sound. He found a girl standing at the door who was scanning through the room, then stopped when she met Seonghwa’s eyes. She had a lavender-colored suit on, her hair barely reached her shoulder, the top of her hair was blonde the rest had a similar color to her outfit.

“Guys, why are you like this? We finally have a newcomer and you just sit there being all anti-social as usual. At least on his first day, show him that we’re at least a little bit human-like.” – she had a big voice that clearly had an enormous amount of confidence in it. – “There he is! I will go there and welcome him, and see if he’s capable of human communication unlike you all, you uncultured swines.” – no one paid attention to the girl, who ran through the classroom to throw herself down next to Seonghwa. – “You must be Park Seonghwa. My name is Jamie. I heard a lot about you.”

“I hope you didn’t believe any word of it, they are all false.”

“Are you sure? I have a pretty reliable source.”

“And I was thought not to say a word without the presence of my lawyer.”

“Funny, your lawyer didn’t say a word about this to me.”

“How do you know Wonwoo? And why did he gossip about me? Should I sue him?”

“Okay, first of all, you’re totally different than I imagined. I thought I would need to lead some lost puppy to the right path, but you’re far away from a puppy. Maybe… a baby lion?”

“That would do. But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Oh yeah, you shouldn’t sue Wonwoo, he just wanted the best for you. And I know him because of Minghao. You know, the cute Chinese guy in your group of friends.”

“Of course, I know him. Are you his mate?”

“And you’re quick witted too, I like it. We sometimes meet up, with Chungha too. Our meetings are like a double date or something similar to that. There, after your big decision he asked me to help you out a little.”

“I’m really grateful for that. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, would you consider providing me information on the people here?” – Seonghwa asked to make sure he knew who to team up with or who to avoid at all costs.

“Okay, this place is a whole another dimension than the rest of the uni. Most of the people are here because they are not satisfied with what they got from life and are searching for their origins so that way they will be able to turn themselves into their desired title. Like that guy over there, with the white hair. He wanted to come out as an Omega but he’s an Alpha. Or that girl with the long brown hair. Her family expected a perfect Omega daughter who will give birth to many Alpha children. Instead, they got an Alpha. Basically, no one here is really curious on why we all turned out the way we did, but why did they turn out the way they did.”

“Interesting. I thought this place would be full of Betas wanting equality.”

“Then you came to the wrong place. Besides me, none of the people here is searching for the greater good. I became an Origin researcher in order to give a big slap to my family’s face. They planned my whole life out, where I will study, who I will mate with, what will I study, how many children I will have. They even told me about the plan of how they wanted to control my digestion system and all. So as a protest, I came here. I also don’t know why, but to be honest this was the biggest contrast to a secretary, that I could find.”

“How come we never met before? Maybe we are long-lost siblings.”

“I know, it’s strange. So why are you here?”

“It’s not because of my parents. Of course, they hate that I’m a Beta.”

“Oh yeah, I heard about this story. Not all the details, tho.”

“Long story short, after fighting with my inner self and thoughts I realized I had nothing that really interested me. Basically nothing mattered, because I will always be the last one to choose because I’m a Beta. And this major is the perfect place where our titles matters the least. I plan on finding something really great.”

“Want to team up with me?” – Jamie offered her hand to the boy as a sign of their deal.

“For a project?”

“For our researching in life. I can provide numerous things, just like you. We could make a great team.”

“You know what? Let’s do it!” – Seonghwa accepted the handshake. Neither of them knew what that small gesture meant for the time being, but they were sure the other one had some kind of access to information and knowledge that they couldn’t be able to gain, even if they tried their best.

Jamie talked for a few more minutes when their teacher finally arrived. He never saw the man before. He was more like a grandfather, who was already bored with his life and wanted all his suffering to end. He didn’t know how it felt like to have a relative like that in his life, because his grandparents have already passed away, around the time he was seven or eight. However, Seonghwa always promised himself he wouldn’t judge based solely on look and outer appearance; but he always did. Because, the idiom “ _never judge a book by its cover_ ” wasn’t always accurate, even if we were talking about the literal meaning – books. But just like with the many amazing books that didn’t have promising covers, the old teacher also had many surprises in him.

“In order to welcome our newest member properly, I would like to show you some examples of testing on actual humans which took place somewhere around the 1930’s. They were based on several records from the 1800’s. I may look like someone who wrote those records, but believe me, I wasn’t there. Maybe my previous life, but who cares. We’re not vampires.” – Seonghwa found the man fascinating. He was a bit sarcastic, sometimes even rude but always showcased his big knowledge. Not only about their origins, but also Biology, Literature, History, etc. Sometimes he would find the teacher annoying, but he knew he just had to get used to the man’s attitude, speaking style and whole personality. Until the lunch break, they had 3 lessons, mostly with Professor Kwon. He enjoyed all of them, he felt as if his brain was a sponge that wanted to absorb as much knowledge as possible.

“And then, I used George, the beetle in the last minute. And guess what?! He turned into a dragon! A DRAGON, Dino, can you imagine it? A beetle turning into a big-ass dragon!” – by the time Seonghwa reached their table, Jeongin was probably telling the story of his great victory the fiftieth time that day. Although Seonghwa was present at the big event, he was happy to hear it all over again, since he could see the other Beta’s face light up every time.

“Jeongin, language.” – Hakyeon was fine with anyone swearing, even himself swore way too many times before, but it was more than strange to hear their youngest member say a word like that. That was why he tried to remind Jeongin not to swear, because it didn’t match his adorable face.

“Hakyeon, you’re not his mother.” – Taekwoon was quick to shutting up the oldest, but sadly, his attempt failed because now they were bickering about some useless topic that made the others laugh.

“How come you never mentioned you hired a spy just for me?” – Seonghwa punched his best friend’s upper arm to get his attention.

“You noticed?” – Wonwoo looked at him with pretended surprise in his voice.

“Maybe. You shouldn’t have to. I am a big boy already, I can take care of myself.” – he tried to scold him, but Seonghwa was still oh-so grateful for the boy.

“And Jamie would have probably taken him under her wings without your help.” – Minghao sipped a little from his coffee, taking Seonghwa’s side by stating the most obvious thing about his girlfriend.

“And just exactly, how the hell did you two get together?” – Seonghwa was extremely curious as the two people seemed total opposites of each other.

“We will tell you that later.” – Jamie never joined their meetings before, Seonghwa assumed she had her own group of friends, but for some odd reason she did this time. – “Jeon Wonwoo, are you and Fairy girl free this Friday?”

“I guess, yeah.” – Wonwoo was visibly confused.

“Perfect. Choi San, Jung Wooyoung.” – she called out the two boys at the opposite side of the table.

“What?” – Wooyoung, being a social butterfly, replied immediately.

“Are you free this Friday?” – the boys looked at each other, agreed on something without saying a word then looked back at the girl.

“It depends on.” – San answered this time. – “Why do you need us?”

“I would like to observe your relationship for one of my projects. And since Wonwoo and Chungha are good friends of mine, they maybe won’t be that good of a reference.”

“But we’re friends too!” – Wooyoung sulked.

“Of course, we are, but that’s different. Will you do it or not?”

“We request a trial meeting, then we will see.” – offered San.

“Perfect. I will text you the details later. Prepare yourself.”


	17. Chapter 17

San was more than curious about the „project” Jamie had asked them to help her with. He knew the girl was an origin researcher, but he had zero clue why he, Wooyoung and everyone else were needed at that particular Saturday. If he really thought about his family, he mostly knew his father’s side, especially men. Men in his family always achieved something great, that was worth mentioning even decades later. His mother rarely had the time or the chance to talk about for example San’s great-grandparents. He knew his grandparents because they were still alive, fortunately, but they couldn’t meet up every month. However, he still recalled some stories from the past his mother had told him, but he really didn’t know why would something like that be interesting to anyone other than him.

With confused faces, Wonwoo, Chungha, San and Wooyoung sat at a bar waiting for their friends and drinks to arrive. Minghao told them to feel free to order anything they wanted, so they did it. Thanks to Wooyoung and Chungha their table wasn’t quiet, since they could babble about the smallest thing, like a customer’s rude behavior, their school and the teachers they didn’t like or did like, how come the girl was a vegetarian, etc. San and Wonwoo didn’t really know what to talk about, so they just monitored their partners. Soon, alongside their drinks Minghao and Jamie arrived.

‘Welcome here, my little rats. Today everything’s on me.’ – the lavender-haired girl greeted them in her own manner.

‘Excuse me?’ – San raised his eyebrows, because ever since he left high school no one called him by a degrading name. Expect Seonghwa.

‘I said I’m paying for everyone.’

‘For your… rats?’

‘Oh, my bad. As you know, I’m an origin researcher, probably the best one out there. And if I want to keep my position I need to work as hard as I can, so I decided to make a study on Alpha-Omega relationships. You know, how you behave when there are others around, how you treat your mate, what are the chances of a fake mating, how jealous are you and I could name all the boring stuff, but the main part is that I am going to compare these results with relationships where one of them is a Beta. My number one hypothesis is that if a Beta is the submissive one in the relationship, that’s more likely to be toxic than all the others all together. You may ask why. I also don’t know, but I’m here to figure it out.’

‘I may also ask, how this is connected to our origins?’ – Wonwoo asked in order to gather as much information as he can.

‘Good question. I believe, that in the past, hundreds of years ago, some people disliked the hierarchy they had at the time and tried to mess with human kind. There are several kinds of wars humans can fight. But imagine a war, which is slowly but surely creeping through walls, making the weak strong or the strong weak. Something that can make the poor valuable and the valuable poor. I’m sure someone really sick but determined messed with people’s blood, DNA and whole system that ended up creating this mess we call “life”. Likewise, I may be able to prove that people sought for greed, shamelessly.’

‘By observing us?’ – Wonwoo and San asked at the same time.

‘Hopefully yes. I might take a look at your family, your history, surroundings, deepest feelings and will understand how the relationship you’re at the moment changed you AND if you have the genes of those who changed the world or you’re just someone who got lucky and went from rich to crazy rich.’

‘But wouldn’t that require tons of money and the suitable equipment?’ – Chunga asked after hearing Jamie’s ambitious plans for the future.

‘Exactly. And I’m only starting my project on the pure observation phase. Later on, an institution will get interested in my thoughts and topic of research and will provide me with money. Or a crazy rich person, because they’re curious about their true origins. You know, if they were the bad guys or the good guys.’

‘You have your whole life planned for you?’ – San scoffed. Jamie looked him up and down then gave him a look that said more than words ever could do.

‘Why? Are you unsure about yourself?’ – touché.

‘No way, San’s the most confident person I’ve ever met.’ – Wooyoung defended his mate, which caused a smaller debate between the group. They discussed who’s confident and why, where does confidence come from, whether they felt confident or not. Throughout this whole discussion San and Jamie were quiet. They exchanged glances which surprisingly, made San uncomfortable. He felt like the girl knew everything about him and his heart. Even those kinds of things he wasn’t aware of.

‘Okay, so I know that Hao and Jamie haven’t finished the mating ceremony yet, but I know nothing about you guys.’ – Chungha asked, since she knew her mate couldn’t answer her questions because he could care less for anyone besides her and Seonghwa. – ‘From my little pieces of information, I know that you two are like air. No one knew how it got here, but it’s here and we can’t imagine life without it. Will you get married after university?’ – the boys weren’t ready for the girl’s question. They thought they would be going to somewhere totally different field, but here they were. Talking about marriage.

‘Please excuse her, she’s not always stable mentally. It might come from the fact that her cousin’s getting married and she’s been looking at wedding dresses for a month now and she would like to continue it.’ – Wonwoo explained while trying to calm his girlfriend who had a marriage-fever. Despite everything, he was glad she didn’t have a baby-fever.

‘I haven’t really thought about marriage. Like… at all.’ – San spoke first.

‘You haven’t?’ – Wooyoung’s eyes were about to pop out of its place. He couldn’t say anything, however he wandered about living happily ever after with his Alpha.

‘It’s not like that. I meant, that I haven’t thought about the ceremony, the place, the guests, the clothes, the food or the exact time. I know that one day I want to get married. With you, of course.’ – San was quick to correct himself and heal Wooyoung from the sudden heart attack he just gave him.

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly. From some points of views. The food was fantastic, they drank a bit but didn’t not get drunk, they could mostly talk about things everyone was interested in. All in all, it didn’t feel like they were observed by someone. That was thanks to the fact that they were friends and they usually hang out almost like this too. However, from another point of view it was uncomfortable. Everyone in the bar could feel the tension between San and Wooyoung, this whole marriage topic caused. At the end of the night Chungha apologized to them at least a thousand time, so each time they made sure everything was alright and the girl did not do anything wrong. Which was true. Both of them knew this topic would pop up sooner or later. San was a bit disappointed that it was the “sooner” option but he had to go with the flow. San, being the responsible driver he was, he didn’t drink so he could take Wooyoung home. When they got into the car, Wooyoung turned the radio on. They waited. None of them knew why they weren’t heading off.

‘Let’s go on a ride.’ – San suggested, Wooyoung accepted it. Both of them were deep inside their thoughts. They never had to face a question like this one. Obviously, they had many problems and arguments before but they all seemed childish next to this one. San recalled the time he was upset with Wooyoung because the Omega beat him in a game, or when Wooyoung got sulky over a conversation San had with an Omega girl who used to have a big crush on San. San almost smiled at this memory, since he remembered the Wooyoung’s face when he explained that the girl asked for his opinion on how to get an Alpha to which San replied “ _firstly, hit on an Alpha who hasn’t found the love of their life_ ”. That seventeen-year-old Wooyoung was so happy to hear it. And here they were, at the age of 22, on their way to become either happy or sad.

San never wanted to hurt Wooyoung. At first, they had misunderstandings and some scratches on their prides but they had to overcome it in order to be in a healthy relationship. He very well remembered their first date, their first official kiss, the first time they held hands, the first time they cuddled, even the night he and Wooyoung ran away from their homes, in the belief of becoming the next big couple who made it even though everyone was against them. Then slowly, all the firsts became regular, something that shouldn’t be missed out, no matter what. Most of the times, they lived on their own, both of them had their on schedule already. It was especially made for them by them. But once again, San thought about kicking this well-working system up. By the end of their ride, he really thought it would worth everything. Even if being engaged or fully mated meant the biggest change of their life, he was ready. He was ready to take full responsibility, to finally mark their love and to start properly thinking about the future. He knew he must take over the family business, but other than that he wanted to focus on the life he was about to give Wooyoung. He wanted nothing but to spoil the boy.

Eventually, the Alpha and the Omega got out of the car, heading back to their shared flat. They were awkward, the did not know what to tell the other, how to initiate a conversation after this misunderstanding. After forty minutes or so, Wooyoung took the lead and sat down next so San on the couch.

‘We might have something to talk about…’ – he started, already afraid of his own feelings and San’s answer.

‘I think so. About this whole marriage thing, let me explain myse – ‘ – but Wooyoung didn’t let him finish his thoughts.

‘Let’s complete the mating ceremony. On my next heat.’ – Wooyoung dropped the bomb, not having the courage to look at the damage he caused.

‘We should do what? Young, I mean… are you ready? Are you sure?’ – San looked deep inside Wooyoung’s brown puppy eyes, seeking for his consent. What the boy gave him with a slight nod. They stared at each other in disbelief but it soon changed to excitement and happiness.

San felt the urge to throw himself on Wooyoung. He knew the mating ceremony must be done during the Omega’s heat but he wanted to do it on the spot. He wanted to do a “practice round”, to express it in the nicest way. San grabbed his lover by the neck and kissed him as passionate as he could. He held the boy’s face, pressing their bodies so close they would even be able to merge into one. Wooyoung let his hands run through San’s hair, as the older boy wandered all over his body looking for the exact spot he loved to caress. Which was the Omega’s hip. He grabbed them, pulling the boy into his lap. The blonde boy started to move his hips the way both of them get the perfect amount of arousal. The black-haired boy caressed his well-curved butt, bit his neck and proudly listened to all the moans and quiet screams his lover let out. San really felt he couldn’t hold his desires in his pants any longer so he pushed Wooyoung to his back, throwing their shirts away so their naked upper body could meet. The younger one started to please his rapidly growing bulge to which San responded with another round of humping.

‘I love you so much, Choi San.’ – in old animations each time the main character had a great idea or remembered something a lightbulb lighting up could be seen and a “ding” sound could be heard. San experienced something like that; part of him wished he never realized anything but part of him wanted to run away as soon as possible. He loved Wooyoung with all of his heart. Or almost all of it. But somewhere deep down, he had a teeny-tiny dark corner which wasn’t full of Young. He heard his full name thousands of times, from his parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, Wooyoung and from other people too. But there was only one person who recently called him Choi San more than anyone else. The moment Wooyoung said his name, Seonghwa popped up in his mind. The boy’s black hair, the slender figure completed with a face structure that should be either advertised everywhere around the world or be hidden from everyone so no one can steal him from San. He saw Seonghwa’s uninterested, clever, annoyed, sad, happy, grumpy and smiling face in front of him. He wanted to see more. He wanted to see how he was during sex, during a heated argument, around his family or with his lover. San wasn’t aware that his answer regarding marriage previously wasn’t negative because he didn’t love Wooyoung, but because he started to have feelings towards Park Seonghwa. He wanted to talk with him, but didn’t have a chance the other day. He never wished to sleep with anyone else but with Wooyoung. However, at that moment, no matter in what situation, position or place it would’ve occurred he wished Seonghwa was in Wooyoung’s place.

‘I…I can’t. I can’t finish the mating ceremony. I’m sorry Wooyoung, but… I just can’t.’ – San got scared of his own feelings. He was confused, he wanted to talk to someone who would understand him, who’s not Wooyoung, not Seonghwa, Taekwoon, Wonshik or anyone else. He wanted to talk to the person who understood how it felt to mate in an unsure state.

‘Mom, I think I just fucked up my whole life.’


	18. Chapter 18

‘Mom, I think I just fucked up my whole life.’ – San barged into his mother’s office. The lady looked at him with visible surprise.

‘What makes you think that? And hello to you too, San, I’ve had a good day, thanks for asking.’ – said the women defiantly.

‘Mother, it’s really not the time to joke around.’ – seeing her son’s panicked face, she gestured to him to feel free to sit anywhere. So he decided to throw himself to the couch. – ‘Wooyoung asked me to finish the mating ceremony.’

‘Darling, that’s so great! We need to – ‘

‘But I refused.’

‘Excuse me? The stupidest, rudest and most spoiled child out there did what?’

‘Okay, it’s not entirely true. Today we had a friend gathering, where a girl asked us whether we had plans for marriage. And I said I didn’t. You know, I do want to get married one day, but I haven’t planned anything yet. At least that’s what I thought was the reason I had denied the question. But later, when Young asked me to finish it… At first, I was happy, I was ready to take everything into my hand and mark our love. But suddenly, when we, uhm, sorta… you know Mom, started to do _things_ , something popped in front of my eyes. More like, someone.’ – San couldn’t look into his mother’s eyes. He didn’t cheat on Wooyoung but still felt like he did it. – ‘Within a second I started to think about that boy. How I know nothing about him. How I want to know more about him. Not just on a friendly level but, on higher levels, I guess. Okay, let’s say it crystal clear, I want to have sex with him, maybe even would like to try going out with him. But I can’t tell the reason why. I’ve never been interested in anybody, but Wooyoung. Then he suddenly debated himself in my life. Maybe that’s the reason. We fought sometimes. Not physically, but mentally. Or, I don’t know, we were bickering. And probably my frustration built up in me and I never tried to wreck it down. But that’s the worst part! I don’t know how to destroy this frustration. Or what kind of frustration it is. I’m just way too confused, because I don’t want to hurt Wooyoung, he’s the most important thing to me in my life, but this boy… he just keeps messing with my head and he’s not even aware of it. Mother, what the hell am I supposed to do? Break up with Young? But I don’t want that. Cheat on him? There’s no way I would have the heart to do that. Try to forget Seonghwa? But how am I supposed to do that when we’re friends? Should I just ignore him? But how can I ignore him when every time we meet I either think about wanting to be with him or wanting to console him, to make sure he won’t commit suicide. Should I just jump in front of a car, so it can hit me and as a result I’ll have amnesia and whoever I can remember will be the love of my life? Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Thanks for listening, Mom.’

‘Choi San, you stupid brat, sit down. You’re not jumping anywhere especially when you told me. From this whole monologue that was the stupidest thing you’ve said! Just… give me a minute to gather my thoughts. Or two. Or twenty. But until, please sit down and drink a cup of water. Firstly, what did you do when this Seonghwa boy appeared in front of you when you and Wooyoung were about to have sex?’

‘Well… how do I put it so you won’t hit me? I kind of ran away.’ – San fleshed his mother an innocent-looking smile. One could say, Mrs. Choi’s whole soul probably left her body.

‘Oh my God, Choi San. You could’ve inherited SO many traits from your grandfather, but you had to go with stupidity. Oh dear God, what did I do in my previous life to be punished with a Father and a son like these two? Now I need to drink a cop of water too.’ – minutes flew by, what San felt like hours and hours of waiting. He was in his thoughts, just like his mother. Both of them wanted to say something but somehow didn’t know how to start, more like where to start.

‘Mom, you need to believe me. I love Wooyoung, but… Have you ever thought about loving the fact that Dad’s by your side and you love being a relationship, however you might not love them… as much as before, I guess. Like, he’s important to me, you know. But, sometimes I take it for granted that he’s with me and I can’t imagine life without him. Still, I don’t want to live a life where I am with someone just because it has always been like that and should stay like that. You know, without real and sincere feelings. These things were never important to me, only when it had something to do with Young, and… And I’m confused now.’

‘Okay, San. Listen to me, maybe we can find a way out of this mess you created probably within a second. When your father started to flirt with me, I kind of… Hm… Well, let’s say I doubted several things, including myself. Everybody knew who he was, what a great family he came from, and how he was supposed to mate with a real rich and beautiful Omega he knew ever since they were children. The only problem was that the girl fell in love with someone else, so they kind of got a clue of them not being soulmates. So, your father flirted with just everyone and everyone liked it, because look at your father! He’s a bit older now, but until today my heart melts when I see him smile. At first it wasn’t like that back then. I used to dislike him and his ego. But eventually, he made me agree on going out with him. He didn’t bribe me with money or offered me the whole world or how he would save be, be my Prince Charming in shining armor. He told me he simply wanted to enjoy life before he must marry someone he wasn’t in love with. I felt how sincere he was and that “bod-boyish” style he had, hid deeper feelings. So, we dated. Your grandparents didn’t like me, what I understood. Their son dumped the rich girl and got himself a mediocre high school girl. However, as time went by and all of us got to know each other, things changed. They treated me as their daughter, as someone they would like to see for the rest of their lives. And your father was true and loyal to me. He never fooled around with anyone or cheated on me. So, when he asked to try the mating ceremony, I got afraid. No one forced it on me, but I had a big pressure on my shoulders knowing his oh-so great perfect family tree. Full of Alpha males. I got scared that what if I were to give birth to an Omega or a Beta, ruining everything. At that case I was sure they would separate us by stating we weren’t soulmates, after all. And I didn’t want to die because of the loss of the man I’ve loved. So, I broke up with him. But you know what’s funny? I couldn’t look at other boys. I tried to “forget” him, you know, doing _things_ , but not once it worked. At first it bothered me that he really might’ve been the one and I let him go. Then I got depressed and was on the verge of going crazy. Then, after two years of our break up, he came to me with a ring. Saying that if I don’t accept that ring, he will just jump into the Han river. So, I told him that if I don’t accept that ring, I will jump after him. And the rest is history. We’re mates, but we doubted it. So, what’s the moral for you? Probably that, that even the most perfect-like couples can doubt themselves. And in your case, you’re just simply inexperienced. You started to date at sixteen. At sixteen I had a crush on Johnny Depp and your father’s “ _Hearts I’ve broken”-list_ slowly reached twenty. We had experience before deciding on the “real thing”. Dating, then the doubts and finally the realization that we couldn’t live without each other. But what you two had? Your cockiness, forcing him to start the mating ceremony, the big bumm when you two fell in love and now that things are getting serious, you’re in panic. And I’m sure Wooyoung feels the same too. He might have similar feelings to what I had, but he, just like you, probably has a sudden realization that “Oh. My. God. I haven’t lived yet, and I’m about to get married.’. So, my advice is that you talk to him. I don’t want you to follow our example. I want you to find your own way of getting out of this. You can try several methods to know whether you’re real soulmates or not. But it’s not me, your father or Wooyoung’s parents’ job to decide what to choose.’ – when San was smaller, he never really cared about how his parents ended up. He always thought it was an arranged marriage that eventually turned out as a great thing. He never knew it was them who decided. He thought others decided instead of them. Maybe that was the reason he ran to his mother, so the woman would tell him what to do with his life. But it turned out he was wrong about oh-so many things. He quickly hugged his mother and headed off back to the shared flat. He could just hope that Wooyoung was still there.

When he arrived in front of their door, he hesitated. He didn’t know what to do. Knock? Why would he knock when he has a key to the apartment and lived there for many years now? He didn’t have other choice but to open the door. But he was afraid of what was waiting for him. How Wooyoung would react and what did he do while he was away. Eventually, San stepped into the flat and saw Wooyoung on the couch. He couldn’t read his expression correctly, there were way too many emotions. Hatred, sadness, disappointment, love, depression and some sort of a hope. San found himself in the exact same position they were in a few hours before. Not knowing what to say, where to start, how to express themselves. San knew he broke something not only in himself, but in Wooyoung too. At that moment he really wanted to hire a gang to beat him up for hurting Wooyoung, he would deserve every single punch.

‘Did you cheat on me?’ – Wooyoung wanted to make things clear. He wanted to understand San and wanted to forgive him, no matter what.

‘Never in my life, I would be able to do that to you.’

‘But you still left me here for hours after telling me you didn’t want to finish the mating.’

‘I know, I know Young. I messed it up, I am in a mess and I am a mess. I just got… confused. You know I love you more than anything.’

‘Yet, you don’t want to live with me happily ever after. Which means there’s someone you love more than me.’

‘No, it’s not like that. I don’t love that person. I mean, I don’t even know what I feel towards that person. I’m curious. On different levels. We don’t have experiences that we can compare to each other. We only had ourselves. I don’t doubt your existence, I doubt myself and my feelings. If… if I still love you, as a whole, or love the fact that we’re together without loving you as whole. I don’t know if you understand what I just said, but I’m sure there’s a difference between the two.’ – San really tried to look into Wooyoung’s eyes, but he couldn’t. Once, he couldn’t bear to look into those pretty hazelnut eyes that once only looked at him filled with love. Once Wooyoung wasn’t able to maintain the eye contact, it hurt him way too much. – ‘I love you Wooyoung, but… maybe it’s not the same as before? Maybe we need to find our love all over again.’

‘I don’t get it San. We had no problem until now. Nothing. Just exactly what happened? Would you be able to throw away six years of trust away just because you’re curious?’

‘Wooyoung, in some case years are just numbers. And… I don’t want to throw it all away, I… I really don’t know what I want. I want to be with you, but also want to be with that person.’

‘So, what should we do? Break up?’ – when San heard the word break up, his heart broke into million pieces. He didn’t want to break up with Wooyoung, he loved him way too much to do that.

‘No, no, no, no. I don’t want to break up. I don’t want to lose you.’

‘But you already lost a part of me.’ – this was the exact moment when both of them burst into tears. They never were weak or ones to cry over trivial things. But the possibility of losing each other made them feel panicked, scared, cruel and sad. – ‘Should we go on a break?’

‘No, that makes no sense. It’s the same as a break up.’

‘Okay, then what? Should invite him into our relationship? Or her? What is that person? A girl, a boy, a woman, a man, an Omega?’

‘It’s a boy, actually.’

‘Great. Couldn’t you choose at least a girl so I could understand why you’re oh so curious.’

‘Wooyoung…’

‘No, it’s just I really don’t get it. I am an Omega. And a male on top of that. Just like that person. In a sexual way, I really don’t understand what else is there for you to “explore”?’

‘You’re not entirely right about something.’

‘Oh yeah, about what?’

‘He’s not an Omega.’

‘San, are you crazy? How could two Alphas be together?’ – the look on San’s face explained everything to Wooyoung. Who caused their relationship to fall apart. Who made San curious and why. Wooyoung hated both of them. Despised every moment they spent together, regretted everything he did for both of them, how he tried to help that damned Beta. But this feeling lasted for a second. He looked at San and his heart immediately started to ache. He could see how troubled his lover was and how guilty he felt. On the other, what did the Beta do? Nothing. He just existed. He just talked. He just bickered with San. He just, unintentionally, stole a piece of San’s heart. Maybe he wasn’t aware of this robbery. And how could he hate on that poor boy, who was already hated by too many people and were on the verge of dying? He couldn’t be another one. – ‘It’s Park Seonghwa, right?’


	19. Chapter 19

San didn’t know how to answer. Yes, it was Park Seonghwa. He tried to deny this fact until now, but now that he knew it, he couldn’t hide it anymore. Not even from Wooyoung. Instead of saying anything he just nodded. This little gesture made them go into a rather deep silence for a long time. Both of them were in their own world, looking for the right word to say or just trying to figure out their own thoughts. It was obvious to San, that in order for him to be with Seonghwa, he must break up with Wooyoung. Because even if they agreed to have an “open relationship”, the Beta wouldn’t agree. He wouldn’t be able to hurt Wooyoung. Because let’s admit, in that relationship it would have been more San and Seonghwa, San and Wooyoung and not Seonghwa and Wooyoung. He felt incredibly selfish that everything was evolving around him, his stupid decisions and stupid heart. San hated that this once, his heart won a fight against his brain.

‘Seonghwa did nothing.’ – San was the first to break the silence. He had to. – ‘He became a part of my thoughts without me realizing it. Or him doing it on purpose. It just, happened. I tried to explain it as a simple worry towards my hurt friend, but after a little time… I don’t know, I couldn’t think about him as a friend. But as a potential “crush”. Maybe, I’m not sure what to call him.’ – Wooyoung wanted to say “bastard” but then he recalled the older’s expressions and emptiness he saw couple of times. So he wanted to degrade San, but he couldn’t. He loved him too dearly to say anything bad about him. He loved his moon-shaped eyes when he was smiling. He loved the little dimples he had when he smiled. He loved his sharp jawline, his light skin, his black hair, his slender but well-built body. He loved the soul that sometimes-arrogant body hid from the world. He loved that San loved him, and he hated that there was a possibility of San loving someone else. But once again, he thought about the small shared moments, gestures they had, and his heart couldn’t be filled with hatred but with pure sadness. Wooyoung was sad.

‘I really don’t know how to overcome this. What to do. I mean, if you just want to bang him once or twice and we stay together that definitely counts as cheating. But if we go on a break, and you can’t have sex with him, that will leave you dissatisfied that might later on lead to the full rotting of our relationship. But if you have sincere feelings, not just some foolish sexual tension, no matter what we do, how do we stay, you’ll end up with him. It hurts me and I’m sure it hurts you too. And once I see you two together, in whatever way, it’s going to slowly kill me, but if you were meant to be what are we supposed to do? Should I prevent you two from finding happiness and true love? That way I might prevent it from myself too. But all in all, if we’re meant to be, we will find our way back to the other. But if we’re not, then we can keep this relationship as a nice memory.’ – _“a nice memory”._ Both of their hearts broke at this thought. They didn’t want it to end, but still wanted to know for sure if they were the ones for each other or not.

‘I’m sorry Wooyoung. I really am. I might rot in hell because of it, but I’m ready to do so. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.’

‘There’s no need to be sorry for wanting to find answers to question you’ve never imagined before. That’s what I should say, right?’

‘Yeah, maybe.’

‘Of course. I shouldn’t say that my heart has more pieces than that 1000-pieces puzzle we did with the Hogwarts castle on it.’

‘Well, it was you, who did it. I was the mental support. You know, I hate puzzles.’ – none of them imagined they would end up like this. Talking about things they did together. Places they visited together. Meals they tried out together. Looking at pictures from the beginning to the very end. However, they never imagined there might be an end for them, but hours ago they couldn’t imagine this whole process would be this calm. San was ready to be hated by Wooyoung and Wooyoung was ready to hate San. But they had to realize they were way too precious for the other to deal with feelings like hate. All the dear and pretty memories they had, overwhelmed the feeling of hatred.

They stayed up all night long talking. They were talking about stuff as usual. What was the newest gossip at school, what movie they were interested in, what delicious food they saw on Instagram. It was all the same expect their hearts. Their heart were broken, scarred, it bleed a lot but it remained together. It was in pieces but something held it together. And that something could be love, hope, friendship, memories, no one knew what it really was. But both of them knew they were glad something kept them together. San and Wooyoung spent their last night together as usual, without any fight. Because once you grow up and understand how a human’s heart works, you understand that feelings, sadly, fade. And in order to make them shine again, changes must be applied to life.

‘And now what to do with this flat?’ – Wooyoung asked out of the blue.

‘I can just move back to home. It’s probably easier and better for me to disappear from your life.’

‘But what if I don’t want you out of my life?’

‘Wooyoung…’

‘Listen to me. Yeah, we should keep our distance in order for you to figure out things with Seonghwa. But we want to stay friends, right?’

‘Of course.’

‘Everybody out there states it’s impossible for exes to stay friends, because hard feelings will always be there. And that’s true. But isn’t that the way we grow? To learn how to accept change in life. And I might sound selfish, but I want to be a part of your life. I want to see how you change, how your relationship with Park Seonghwa blossoms. I know I must let you go and you should do the same, but I don’t want to let all of you go. I want to stick to part of it. So, if you agree let’s continue living here as before. Let’s act the way we did before, it’s just we won’t be together anymore. I can’t guarantee that I will support everything you do with Seonghwa or will listen to your problems regarding him, but I want to continue to be by your side. Will you let me stay by your side?’

‘I would be the dumbest person to not do so.’ – San said and immediately hugged Wooyoung as hard as he could, he tried to summarize all of his feelings and gratitude in this one “last” hug. He knew how hard it was for Wooyoung and how probably part of him died inside. He knew how they were about to live wasn’t going to be how they used to. But he was grateful to Wooyoung for being the angel he has always been. Their hug was followed with a kiss. They kissed as if their lives depended on it. And it maybe did. They wanted it to remain the best one. – ‘I love you Wooyoung.’

‘I love you too, San.’ – with that being said, San drove his ex-lover home. Both of them needed their families’ support. It was strange. They hugged but there wasn’t the slightest sign of their usual quick pecks on their cheeks or a lazy kiss. They just hugged and said good bye. After watching Wooyoung going inside, San drove off. His steps were heavy. His heart was pounding. He could feel tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He hadn’t realized it yet, but his whole life took a 180-degree turn. He felt he was about to go crazy if he can’t let everything inside his chest out. As soon as he stepped into their kitchen, where there was his mother, father and some of the maids, San didn’t know how to present them this situation. San and his mother locked eyes, discussing things what should be discusses without words. Mrs. Choi ran to San and embraced her son in a tight hug.

‘I’m going to miss Wooyoung so much.’ – San didn’t know how to reply. He was going to miss him too. What’s more, he was already missing him. And it hurt.

‘I swear Park Seonghwa just messes with everyone’s life.’ – the grey-haired boy said it as he slurped down his beer.

‘Hyung, you’re not helping with this. And let me remind you, that in your case you were at the biggest fault.’ – San scolded his friend. He had so much going on his head and somehow Wonshik’s bickering put a little bit of irony into the situation. They’re best friends; one hit on the same guy the other had a crush on.

‘Agreed.’ – San didn’t know why Taekwoon was with them, but according to Wonshik despite his cold looks he knew a lot about human heart. And not only from a Biological aspect.

‘Whatever. So San, what are we supposed to do? Are we going to be split to three groups? The San-supporters, the Wooyung-supporters and the Park Seonghwa gang, topped with Hakyeon who’s going to go crazy because of it.’

‘No, there’s no way I would let that happen. We talked. Actually a lot, considering every possible outcome. And there won’t be any change in our friendship. The change will be in our relationship. We continue to live together and hang out, because we can’t let each other go that easily.’

‘That’s a bit toxic, don’t you agree?’ – Taekwoon asked.

‘I’m not sure. It’s indeed a bit strange but… what can I do? I still love Young, but not as before, I guess. I don’t know how I feel. I’m confused because of these emotions.’

‘You were right Hyung. Being asexual would’ve been the best for us.’ – Wonshik’s voice was full of sarcasm, but his closest friends could feel the real pain behind it.

‘You’re asexual?’ – it was brand new information to San. It obviously wasn’t something one would brag with, but he thought the person who’s involved would eventually bring it up, to make things clear. But he also didn’t understand why he was surprised about not knowing something about Taekwoon. He wasn’t the talker type, unlike Hakyeon.

‘Yeah, you could say. In some aspects, my life is much easier since sexual feelings aren’t involved. This way I can surely know what I feel and can not confuse things. Just like you.’

‘I can’t really change that with a snap.’ – San rolled his eyes.

‘I didn’t say you should, I just sated the obvious for me. But let me ask you something. Besides sexual attraction, do you feel anything towards Seonghwa? Because if not, it would be better to just “get over with it” and get back together with Wooyoung. It sounds cruel, but wouldn’t it solve many of your problems?’

‘False.’ – Wonshik opposed. – ‘Because once he had sex with him, he might want more and one time won’t be enough for him. It’s like tasting someone else’s food. If it suits your taste, one bite won’t be enough. You want to eat it until you’re full. And once you’re empty again, you got reminded of it and want to eat it again.’

‘To tell you the truth, I didn’t have the time to think about my feelings about Seonghwa. The past days I could only think about Young. Even now, I am sure the truth and several rumors will be all over the university and I don’t want anyone to hurt or bully him. Or “give him a try” just because he’s my… ex. But on the other hand, I want to talk with Seonghwa. Not about this, to make sure he doesn’t misunderstand anything or he won’t think I’m a bad person. I just want to know him. I want to know if it was worth to kick my whole world down.’

‘It was worth it.’ – Taekwoon said after thinking for a few moments. – ‘Change is hard and not everybody’s brave enough to take a step towards it. So, I really do admire yours and Wooyoung’s strength. After this, I’m sure you will come out as a much wiser and more mature person. Both of you. Consequently, from your development’s point of view, it was worth it. But relationship-wise? Considering how troubled Seonghwa is, it’s hard to predict. He has way too many scars and maybe your presence won’t heal them, just hurt him more. So, when you decide to really “hit on him” or “flirt with him”, you need to take the consequences in count too.’

‘I disagree with you.’ – Wonshik’s expression was a little bit sour and maybe hid a bit of jealousy too, but it was sincere. – ‘I truly think that in the end, you will have a good life. The way until there might be filled with thorns, rocks, mountains and deep-deep gaps but you must overcome them to make your life worthy. And I’m sure Park Seonghwa can help you through that way. And even you can help him find his own worth. I’m not saying you’re going to end up together, or be the ultimate-best-couple, but you have a good chance of saving each other.’


	20. Chapter 20

San and Wooyoung broke up. “ _San’s parents found his real mate, so he had to kick Wooyoung out and was already planning his wedding with the new Omega. Apparently, they already mated and their baby was about to be born. Wooyoung thought way too much about himself, he thought he was that precious that San would forgive him for cheating on him with ten people. By ten, you meant all an ill or just this month? This week, duh.”_ – the rumors were everywhere. Seonghwa didn’t know where some stupid rumors came from, for example San getting someone pregnant but he couldn’t care less about these talks. Rumors weren’t important to him, just the facts. He knew it very well that San and Wooyoung had broken up, but he guessed no one knew the truth, that’s why stupid things like Wooyoung cheating on the Alpha were everywhere. If there was someone, who knew very well not to believe everything they heard or saw without proper explanation, then it was Seonghwa. His whole life was a lie, then after the truth about him came out, he heard everyone talk ill about him. People distanced themselves from him. So instead of answering brave people’s questions who reached out to him with questions like “is it true that San’s impotent?”, he wanted to focus on helping them with what he could offer. It wasn’t much but probably another pair of ears to listen or a shoulder to cry on. However, he had a “history” with San, he would offer him anything in order to cheer him up, not to talk about Wooyoung.

“I heard Wooyoung got pregnant and San doesn’t want to keep the baby.” – the ones at Origin Research major weren’t gossipy or talkative, but rumors like this, caught their attention too.

“Would you please leave the classroom if you want to talk about bullshit instead of listening to Professor Kwon’s presentation on 17th century torture style?” – Seonghwa turned to two girls behind him with an annoyed expression on his face.

“As long as I don’t see ‘dr’ in front of your name, you can’t tell me what to do, Beta.” – one of the girls pushed Seonghwa’s hands off of their table. Everyone looked at their direction. Seonghwa turned back to his seat, tore a paper out of his notebook and wrote something on it.

“There you go.” – Seonghwa showed the girl the paper where he wrote ‘Dr. Beta’. This simple task left everyone speechless while Jamie burst out laughing. – “Now get out.”

“You asshole – “ – the girl was about to slap the boy when Prof Kwon cleared his throat.

“However, Mr. and Miss Park’s sense of humor worries me, I agree with Mr. Park. If you want to talk about something as little and insignificant as two people breaking up for whatever reason, then leave. Are they the presidents? Or the directors? Or famous inventors? Or you know what, famous singers? As long as your answer is no to all the questions above, you either shut your mouth or leave. Ladies, it’s your choice.” – the girls murmured something they considered as an apology to the professor, but they didn’t leave. On the other hand, they stopped the chatting. Jamie and Seonghwa bumped their fists as a sign of their victory.

“This whole situation is so messed up. I mean, it was so good to look at them. They didn’t give me hope that true love might exist, but now what will happen? Look at all those cute little couples who now question themselves. They were perfect.” – Seonghwa said as he and Jamie walked to the cafeteria after their classes.

“There’s no such a thing as perfect. They might have come across a problem they weren’t able to deal with and realized they had to end things before hurting each other more.” – the girl responded with wisdom.

“I’m sure you know something.”

“Let’s just say, that poor Chungha will blame herself for a long time.” – she said mysteriously.

“What does Chungha have to do with them?”

“Who knows. But if you accept an advice, let me tell you that you should walk with your eyes open around Choi San?”

“Why? Because he’s shorter than me and I might knock him out?”

“Well, how would I know?” – with that said, the girl left to her friends. Seonghwa looked after her for a while, shrugged his shoulders and headed to their table. As he sat down, he could feel the immediate tension which was around them. Wooyoung was already at the table and San was approaching them. The whole university watched the scene where San throw himself next to Seonghwa, looked at Wooyoung for a couple of seconds then gave him something. What was an apple.

“Haven’t you heard chocolate was the best medicine for heart break?” – the Omega asked.

“Sorry, I already ate them all. Can’t you see it on my face?”

“You’re right, you gained weight. You already have a double chin and a beer stomach is on its way.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t be jealous. As I saw this morning, your butt became bigger.” – literally no one could tell whether they were joking or dead serious.

“Are we in a parallel universe? It’s not me shaming San, but Wooyoung?” – Seonghwa decided to be the one to break the ice and figure out what was going on.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got words for you, too. Have you looked into the mirror today?” – San said as he touched Seonghwa’s hair. He intended this gesture to be a joke, but it made his heart race a bit and Wooyoung’s to ache a bit.

“Yeah, Hyung. Your hair looks like bird’s nest.” – Wooyoung said with a bitter smile on his face. But the moment he saw Seonghwa’s shocked expression he couldn’t help himself but laugh out loud. Although it hurt him to see San and Seonghwa together, he couldn’t be mad at them. And he realized it was nice to bicker with Seonghwa. The Beta immediately hit San for his comment, but didn’t know what to do with Wooyoung. He was precious to him. And Wooyoung didn’t want to ruin his hyung’s innocent feelings with hatred.

“You’re the devil. What have you done to him?” – Seonghwa grabbed San by the collar dramatically, as if they were in a really heated drama scene.

“It wasn’t me. He’s been like this the whole time. Believe, hyung. Spare my life.” – San pretended to beg. At that moment when their eyes met, Seonghwa started to think to himself _“When did our relationship became…good?”_

“You’re terrible actors. That’s not how you beg for your life, Choi San.” – Hakyeon get up from his seat just to throw himself to the cold ground, putting his hands to his heart. – “My dear lord, Park Seonghwa, spare me. Please, forgive me. FORGIVE ME, MY LORD, I’VE GOT A FAMILY TO FEED.”

“I really don’t get why the four of you didn’t get into theater major.” – Minghao said with a displeased look on his face, which made everyone at their table burst into laughter. Expect Taekwoon. He was just slightly smiling, but that was his style. From that moment on, everything was the same. The boys were talking, joking, eating and sometimes shouting. Especially when Dino and Wonwoo started to debate over a game’s rules. It was rare for Wonwoo to raise his voice, but he wanted to prove his truth so bad that he had to be the loudest. On the contrast, Dino was supported by Minghao, who, by the way, knew nothing about the game but he found it funny to see the two of them scream and liven up the table.

“Hey Diego.” – Seonghwa bumped San’s knee with his. The Alpha turned to his direction. – “I know I might not be the first one you want to talk to about your problems, but I guess I was an outsider all the time when it came to your relationship with Wooyoung. So, if you want to hear a not biased opinion on what happened, you can talk to me. You might have been an asshole to me, but I was too. And since we’re assholes together, we might understand each other. However, if it turns out you hurt Wooyoung, I take everything back. I like him more.”

“But doesn’t that mean that you’re already on his side?”

“Nope. I will take sides when I’ve heard both of them. If you’re right, then I will be on your side. And if Wooyoung’s right, I’m going to be on his side.”

“Thanks Hwa, it’s really nice of you, but – “

“Hyung. It’s Hwa hyung.” – Seonghwa corrected him.

“Whatever, Martian hyung.” – Seonghwa rolled his eyes at the ridiculous nickname. – “But I don’t want to talk about the break up. I mean, about the whys and the outcome. I just… I don’t want to tell it to anyone, yet.”

“I understand. But if you want a distraction, we can hang out, I guess. I know we’re not best of a friends, but I know what does it mean to be at the rock bottom and have someone understand that and treat you the way you should be treated. Both you and Wooyoung show your best, but your eyes never lie. I see you’re hurt. Both of you. And just so you know, I would like to offer this little “talk” to Wooyoung too. I don’t want either of you to end up as miserable as me.”

“But why do you want to help me, uhm, us?” – San was hopeful. He was hoping that Seonghwa’s answer would be something like “because I want to know you more” or “deep in my heart, I might have feelings for you”.

“Because back then, at that certain night, you were beside me. Unintentionally, but still stayed with me and listened to my thoughts. I want to do the same to you. So your heart will feel a little bit easier after spending some time with someone you usually don’t. You know, a distraction from the life you had before. Or a guidance for the new life you’re about to have.” – Seonghwa didn’t knew what his words meant to San. San knew there was zero romantical feelings in them, but it made him feel some type of a way. Guidance for the new life. That was what Seonghwa exactly was to San. The possibility of a new life.


	21. Chapter 21

“Wooyoung, wait a minute.” – Seonghwa rushed after the boy when there was solely ten minutes or so left of the lunch break.

“What’s up Hyung?” – he didn’t want to talk to Seonghwa right after he saw him with San. They were talking about something. But it bothered him that he wasn’t next to San, so he couldn’t know what they were discussing immediately. It bothered him that the two guys might have a chance. He knew he promised himself and San to be supportive, and most importantly not to hate on Seonghwa, because he did nothing wrong, but it was still hard to talk to the reason of their break up. Especially a few days after the incident. In order to be able to talk to Seonghwa properly, as if nothing happened, he had to reconcile things inside him.

“I just wanted to tell you something. Actually – “

“But I don’t want to talk to _you_ Hyung.” – it was a careless slip of words. Wooyoung usually spoke his mind and thoughts but this time he wanted to control them. He reminded himself to have a self-control over something that might hurt someone. So, when he said this sentence both of them froze. Seonghwa looked at him confused, almost a little bit hurt, but most importantly he didn’t understand what Wooyoung meant by that. He also had times when he didn’t want to talk to anyone, but this one was different. He felt like Wooyoung emphasized that he didn’t want to talk to Seonghwa, but would talk to someone else.

“I understand. Then, maybe next time.” – Wooyoung’s heart broke when he saw the elder’s disappointed expression. He didn’t know if he was disappointed with him or that they weren’t able to talk. The Omega regretted that he forgot to control his mouth. He wanted to apologize to his hyung, but he felt that the Beta’s back showed coldness to him. _‘He might have turned back to being a cold prince.’_ – Wooyoung thought. But he was wrong. Seonghwa wasn’t cold to him, he just had to figure out why the younger was mad at him or what could have been the reason he didn’t want to talk.

They were awkward. Way too awkward. San and Seonghwa never had a bonding moment besides their bickering and Seonghwa’s letter. But the latter was more of a one-sided conversation, since the Beta never really received a full reply. They agreed on being friends, but San never shared his thoughts about the letter or what he really thought of Seonghwa. So, there they were: at a restaurant, located in the heart of the city center. Seonghwa chose that place because “there’s always tons of people, so we will have witnesses”. In reality, he just wanted to try their _guksu_ out, and he realized that a conversation over a bowl of delicious Korean food would ease any kind of tension. Firstly, they ordered two portions of warm _guksu_ with vegetable and beef toppings.

“So San, uhm, do you have siblings?” – Seonghwa thought this was the stupidest question he ever asked someone, but he had no other idea how to initiate a conversation with the other man.

“No, I don’t. I only have my Mother and my Father. What about you, Hwa?”

“I really can’t convince you to call me hyung, right?”

“Well, probably.”

“Also, when did we get so close you have a nickname for me?”

“And when will you answer my question?” – San rolled his eyes.

“I have two sisters. Both of them are older than me. Hyojung’s 6 years and Somin’s 3 years older than me.”

“You must have received tons of love from your family.” – San smiled to himself as he recalled all the times, he went to Wooyoung’s house and witnessed the boy and the boy’s little borther’s brotherly fights or supportive moments. For a short time, San wanted a little sister, but due to his family’s traditions, he couldn’t have one.

“Up until a few years ago, I indeed was loved by everyone.”

“Then what happened?”

“Are you serious?” – Seonghwa asked San, as if he wasn’t aware of the obvious. For a few seconds San had zero clue of what the other meant, but then he realized. His family figured he was a Beta. A shame on the family’s name. San totally forgot this little fact of Seonghwa, he focused too much on other traits.

“Of course not, I’m San.” – Seonghwa scoffed at the over used joke and took a mouthful of his soup. – “Do you like Harry Potter?”

“It’s a sharp turn, but uhm, I guess yes. I’ve seen the movies.”

“What about the books? Have you read them?”

“No, I never was that much interested in it.”

“But how? I mean, look at yourself! You’re the perfect example of a Ravenclaw! Maybe mixed with a little bit of Slytherin. But you’re not as much of a Slytherin as I am. What I know for sure is that you’re not a Hufflepuff, not at all. You know who’s a Hufflepuff? Jeongin. And Hakyeon hyung. However, I always change my mind when it comes to hyung, one day he’s a Hufflepuff and the other he’s a Gryffindor. You’re also not a Gryffindor, because you know who’s a Gryffindor? Wonshik and Minghao. You just look at them and their whole appearance shouts GRYFFINDOR just like the Sorting Hat did with Harry! But you know who’s in Ravenclaw too? Taekwoon hyung. He’s as a Ravenclaw as one could be. Wooyoung’s obviously a Hufflepuff, there’s no doubt. Actually, with Dino I’m a bit confused, as he could be a really cool Gryffindor but sometimes would fit Hufflepuff’s image. But I would say Gryffindor. Oh, and Wonwoo hyung. He’s really ambitious which is a clear Slytherin trait, but he knows everything in this world, which would make him a Ravenclaw, but then, out of nowhere, BUMM, he fights for other people’s right which makes him brave, which makes him a Gryffindor. Actually, I don’t know him that well. As his best friend and number one ally, what do you think?”

“Well, there are several things, I think. Firstly, you’ve been talking for five minutes without stopping, so I’m kind of worried whether your brain got enough Oxygen or not. Secondly, with the amount of air that just came out of your mouth I’m sure your guksu isn’t hot at all. Thirdly, I clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s been years since I last saw it. And all I know is that Harry and company belongs to Gryffindor, Draco’s a Slytherin and there’s a blonde girl and a dead guy who are Hufflepuffs.”

“What blonde girl are you talking about? Luna Lovegood?”

“Maybe? She was weird and…”

“She’s a Ravenclaw!” – everyone looked at them because San basically shouted his last sentence.

“Okay, but please calm down. If it’s that important to you, I’m going to rewatch the movies.” – Seonghwa tried to calm the Alpha down.

“No, that won’t do it. I’m going to bring you the books to school and you must finish them in a month. Or two. By the beginning of the new year, you must be able to tell me what’s the difference between a muggle and a Squib.”

“I accept the challenge, however! Tell me the exact reason why I must know this?”

“Well, because…” – _‘Congratulations Choi San, now what are you going to tell him? That because you like him and you want him to share the same interests as you? Or just blame it on Wooyoung, as if you were looking for his subside?’_ – was what went through San’s mind within a second, so he had to come up with a good reason. – “Because I want it.”

“And just exactly why do you want it?” – Seonghwa asked and San came to the decision that it was the best, if he was sincere. Partly.

“Because that way we might have something in common and our conversations wouldn’t be as awkward as before. Because you know. We’re… friends.”

“Why do I only recognize how cute you’re Diego?” – Seonghwa smiled at him and raffled San’s hair. No one had done it to him before, not even Wooyoung. He was always he one to give out these kinds of gestures, so now that he was at the receiving end, he felt strange. Strange but good. On the other hand, Seonghwa really found San cute at that moment. He already had three people who wanted to be friends with him before, but all of them approached him differently. Wonwoo was cool and thought a gender or a status couldn’t stand between two people. Hakyeon quickly recognized how great people they were and wanted to take care of and protect them. And Jeongin simply needed examples for how to survive the university as a Beta and that curious and scared little puppy went through a change and ended up as a close friend. But San was different. San fucked up things. Seonghwa fucked up things, too. But they were “mature” enough to face their mistakes and offer their hands for a shake to the other. Seonghwa felt how awkwardly San tried his best to not be an asshole as he usually was. Or more like, he started to become comfortable with Seonghwa and slowly ripped off his “cool guy” mask. Seonghwa felt San had sincere feelings. He just didn’t know yet what kind of feelings they were.

“Don’t call me cute. I’m not cute, but cool.”

“Of course, Diego, as cool as a cartoon boy can be.” – Seonghwa laughed as he scanned the menu to order some more food.

“Fine, if I’m that cute, which I’m clearly not, pay for today’s meal. Cute people don’t pay for their food.” – San said teasingly pretending to throw his non-existing long hair back.

“Muy bien, Diego.” – Seonhwa agreed.

“Don’t talk in Spanish! You don’t even know Spanish!”

“Well, I clearly know more than you.”

“Oh yeah, and where did you learn it?”

“My family lived in Spain for four years, so I was kind of “forced to” learn the language.” – a playful smile was forming on Seonghwa’s face when he saw San’s surprised expression.

“Really? You lived in Spain?”

“In my previous life? Maybe. In my head? Definitely. In reality? Sadly no. How do I know Spanish? From Dora the Explorer.” – by the time Seonghwa finished his sentence both of them were laughing. They tried to control their volume but each time they looked at the other’s face they couldn’t stop but start all over again.

“But why do you watch Dora the Explorer? Are you some kind of a pervert?” – San asked when they finally calmed down and their dessert, two small _bingsu_ s, arrived.

“No. My sister’s pregnant. And she likes to learn all kinds of things, so she decided to watch kids’ shows so when the time comes, when the baby will be big enough to watch TV, she will know what show she’s going to let her watch.” – Seonghwa explained.

“And, are you excited? For the baby?”

“Of course, I’m going to brag about him or her to everyone. I’m going to bring over everyone so they will play with the baby and I will just stand there like “hah, see what I’ve got and what you don’t””.

“Then can I come over too?” – San asked, a little bit afraid of the answer.

“Of course. Babies bring the best out of everyone. Maybe they can make you some sort of a human being, too.” 


	22. Chapter 22

Even in his wildest dreams, Seonghwa wouldn’t imagine him having a good time with San. It seemed that they had way too different personalities with different priorities. However, good things come to those who wait. Neither of them knew they should wait for something, but they did. This patience started their friendship to blossom. They were a weird combo, but after all they had a good day with several pleasant conversations. Seonghwa was about to pay for their meal when his sister called her.

“Sorry, I’ve got to take it.” – he said to San then picked up the phone. – “What’s up Noona?”

“Hwa, do you want to come over? I am too lazy to cook, Joon’s too lazy to cook, Haengbog’s a dog, she can’t cook so we thought about ordering something yummy. And if we order something, we must play Activity or Monopoly or anything that we find. What do you think?”

“Sounds like the perfect night.” – San panicked. Seonghwa addressed someone as noona, so they must be close and him talking about the perfect night made San imagined things he never wanted to see. He fought the urge to order Seonghwa to put the phone on speaker so he could verbally send that woman to warmer places. – “But I can’t go right away. Maybe in an hour?”

“Oh yeah, why? Are you busy hating the world?” – Seonghwa rolled his eyes at this comment.

“No, I’m with a friend.”

“Oh gosh, Wonwoo’s basically a relative, he can come too.” – now what was he supposed to say? Everyone was so used to the fact that Seonghwa only had Wonwoo that they couldn’t imagine the boy with someone else besides him. Seonghwa wasn’t ashamed of San being his friend, but he was shy and embarrassed of talking about him when he was in front of Seonghwa.

“I’m not with Wonwoo.” – was what he decided to say after a few seconds of silence. Now, his sister was the one going silent. She had to process the small piece of information she just heard.

“You mean… another human being? An actual person? Someone who can breathe, walk and talk? Someone you talk to?”

“Noona…”

“Hand him the phone!” – Seonghwa wanted to stop Somin, but he couldn’t. She was a mother-to-be, so she obviously had the power of motherly-influence. So far, he was able to bypass any awkward or humiliating situation among his friends; besides Wonwoo, but he’s Wonwoo; but there he was, knowing very well that if he didn’t give San the phone Somin would come right away to them and drag both of them into some awkward situation.

“She wants to talk to you.” – Seonghwa gave the phone to a confused San.

“Yes? Yes, I’m his… friend, I guess. No, no one’s paying me to hang out with him. No, no one forced me. Yes, I’m here because of my sheer will. Nice to meet you too, my name’s San. Oh, no, I’m not really picky, I like everything. Yes, I’m totally fine with spicy food. Of course, I love it! Cheese with kimbap? Perfect. Yeah, yeah, yes, sure! Okay, see you soon.” – San ended the call and gave the Beta his phone back.

“She invited me over. And I accepted it.” – Seonghwa was staring at him for a few seconds in disbelief, waiting for San to say a punchline and tell him, he was only joking. But after it didn’t happen, Seonghwa’s disbelief turned to pure horror. He couldn’t believe that he was already 23 years old and his sister still had to treat him like a baby whose every step should be observed.

“Why would you do such a thing? I thought we’re friends.” – Seonghwa cried out loud while slightly hitting his own head, in hopes of waking up from a bad dream.

“She said there’s going to be fried chicken and cheese kimbap. A person in his right mind never, let me repeat myself, NEVER declines an offer like that. Oh, and she said we should hurry up because she wants to get to know me before the games and the feast.”

“Yeah, sure. Just let me throw myself off of a bridge before all of that.” – Seonghwa was annoyed, but couldn’t do anything about it. It was indeed a little bit rude to not accept his sister’s offer after she got so enthusiastic about it.

After finally paying for the meal, they headed to Somin and Joon’s house. On their way they talked about nothing and everything. They shared memories of their childhood, where they used to go with their friends and family. What was their usually Sunday program, how they celebrated birthdays. Once, San would talk about the fancy but mostly boring company events he had to attend with his parents, where his only pleasure was food and the stolen champagnes that no one noticed he drank. At those times he felt like a bad boy, who could do anything, but after a few occasions he had to realize that he hated champagne and his rebellious under-age drinking wasn’t worth the disgust champagne gave him. Then Seonghwa mentioned some of their volunteer works. His favorites were obviously the ones where they went to animal shelters or farms. One of the most interesting occasion was the one, where they went to a country-side village to help the elderly people harvest. They always lived in the city, so bugs and their “friends” made them disgusted but the ladies gave them clothes, gloves and hats to ignore them. That was the first time when Seonghwa ate freshly picked sweet potato roasted over a fire.

Soon, their bus ride was over and they had to get off of it. They were a few minutes walk away from Somin’s, when Seonghwa made sure San didn’t change his mind and wanted to go home. Because he would understand and fully support his decision. But San’s determination didn’t break – he was ready to eat.

“Somin and Joon live on the fifth floor, me and our parents live in that building, on the third floor.” – Seonghwa explained as they waited for the elevator.

“Wow, doesn’t that bother them? To have your parents this close? No offense, but I always heard from people that no matter what, me and Wooyoung should live as far from our parents as possible, because it will ruin everything.”

“I’m not sure about this one. They’re happy to be this close. So, they can always help us and vice versa. On the other hand, Hyojung’s house is on the other part of the city. You know, we live in the same place but sometimes it feels like it’s impossible to see her.” – San didn’t know what to answer. His main block was Wooyoung. He forgot about him for the afternoon, but it was inevitable to mention him. He started to go down the slope. San started to think about how much he hurt the boy. He promised Wooyoung to always make him happy, that they were going to have a big house after university where no one could order them to do anything. It was supposed to be their kingdom, where they were supposed to be the kings. But now, both of them were hurt, there wasn’t a sign of a kingdom, let alone the thought of them being each other’s kings. Seonghwa noticed that something clicked inside of San and wanted to comfort him. He really wanted to help, since that was the purpose of that day, but he couldn’t because as soon as the elevator door opened Somin was in front of them. The girl flashed San a huge smile and pushed him inside their flat.

“I’m so happy to meet you San. I’m extremely happy that Hwa really has friends and isn’t a lonely nerd. Besides, your existence brought me lot of money.”

“What?” – both guys frowned their brows which was the international sign for asking for an explanation.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious. It’s just me and Hyojung, our biggest sister, made a bet on whether Hwa had other friends or not. I was sure you had, because you’re too handsome to ignore but Hyojung thought you was as antisocial as her.”

“You bet on me having friends?” – Seonghwa was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe his own ears, meanwhile San besides him giggled at this ridiculous situation.

“Of course. Unnie insisted on you having only Wonwoo, because you only need each other to start your own lawyer agency or something grand and luxurious like that, but now she will be surprised. Smile, boys, smile!” – after the explanation Somin took her phone out of her pocket and made a photo of them, that she immediately sent to Hyojung. The boys looked at the infamous photo. Seonghwa was facepalming, hating every thought around this issue. On the other hand, San was laughing out loud and loving every thought around this issue. – “Now, she will be mad and AUCH.”

“Are you hurt?” – San asked her worriedly, but she was quick to reassure him she was okay.

“Oh I’m fine. It’s just the baby kicked me.”

“Hah, karma. She’s on my side.” – Seonghwa showed his sister a cocky smile. San was amused how much emotion the Beta showcased around the girl. Up until now, he saw him being friendly, kind and selfless around Wonwoo, Hakyeon and Jeongin, but it was different. He loved his friends, obviously but the love he had for his sister was on another level. He wondered if there was another person in this world who Seonghwa loved as much as Somin. He guessed there wasn’t, but deep inside his heart he wished that one day he could be near Somin’s place.

“Or he.” – Joon shouted from the room.

“Ah, Hyung don’t even dream about it on your first try. I have two sisters; you need at least two other tries.”

“I don’t mind.” – said the man happily, to what Somin blushed and shyly told the boys to sit down.

“Hey friend.” – Seonghwa put his hand on San’s left thigh in order to get his attention. He not only concentrated on Seonghwa, but foolishly let himself imagine the other’s hand slowly wandering higher on his leg. – “I still don’t know how to console someone. It’s kind of funny, given the fact that I require almost nothing but consolation from my sisters and dearest friend. So, do you know who will make you feel better?”

“Who?”

“Me.” – Seonghwa winked at San. San just blinked at the sudden action, feeling a big urge to scream out of happiness to see this side of the boy.

“What?” – he calculated, and came to the decision that this was the best reaction he could give to that ridiculous but tempting offer.

“Oh gosh, I was kidding. It’s Haengbog. Where humankind fails, animal kind take over.” – as he finished his sentence the big Dalmatian dog jumped onto his lap. Seonghwa affectionately hugged it and San wished he was in the place of the dog.

“Well, I’m more of a cat person, but…”

“You’re a WHAT? Get out of my house!”

“Ya, Park Seonghwa you can’t kick anyone out of _my_ house.” – Somin jokingly hit the boy’s head in order to regulate him.

“But he said he was a cat person and didn’t like Haengbog!”

“Hey, hey, hey! That’s a lie Park Seonghwa. I couldn’t finish my sentence. I wanted to say I’m more of a cat person, but I would love to cuddle with you!” – It took a second for San to realize what he just said, so he quickly had to correct himself, otherwise he should bury himself somewhere really deep. – “YOUR dog! With your dog, obviously.”

“It’s too late Diego. Haengbog doesn’t like you. Right, baby?” – Seonghwa scratched the dog’s ears, who wiggled its tail out of happiness.

“Oh yeah? Well, Haengbog, come here little girl!” – San called the dog, who willingly threw herself between the bickering boys so both of them could spoil her with their pets.

“You spoiled brat.” – Seonghwa looked at the dog with a smile.

“Thanks, I hear that a lot.” – San answered to what Seonghwa simply rolled his eyes.


End file.
